Dimensional Beckoning
by Silverbits
Summary: They say a certain bell was once created by the Old Hunters, a bell that reaches further than the original Beckoning Bell. There are many of them scattered across different worlds, but only one bell that can answer their call. A threat has come to Yharnam, bringing a change that threatens the very lives of all Hunters, new and old. But not just Yharnam, but possibly of other worlds
1. chapter 1

It had started out so normal, hunting the beasts, slaughtering them for their blood, and moving on to the next area. She had chosen to wake in Central Yharnam, to kill the beasts there then work through the Cathedral Ward and then heading back to the Hunter's Dream to channel the collected blood for more strength. It was supposed to be simple, so simple; but no there is no such thing as simple in the world of Yharnam.

She takes in a deep breath of exasperation as she crosses the bridge, stepping over the corpses of the beasts that had fallen victim to their own trap of the firey ball of death. She's covered head to toe in blood, not hers of course. She shortens her axe and pulls out her blunderbuss, shooting the ogre to aggravate it. She steps back a bit as it comes charging at her, quickly sidestepping it before it can land a blow. As it turns around to face her she quickly extends it and lands a few good blows before stepping back again to dodge the attack that threatened to crush her. As it reared up to try and smash her again she quickly took her chance and impales the beast. She watches it fall to the ground in a heap of lifeless limbs, feeling the strength of the blood flood into her. She quickly spins around and buries the now shortened axe into the shield of the beastly man behind her, knocking his shield away then proceeding to bury it into his chest. Another body, more blood.

She staggers a bit as she takes a step forward, feeling a bit lighheaded. A headache pounding against her skull, she shakes her head and straightens up agian. Was it the Blood Echoes? Was it the maddening enlightenment of Insight? She doesn't know, perhaps its time to channel the blood into strength, perhaps that will stop the pain. She huffs and mentally scolds herself as she climbs up the stairs to Odeon's Tomb.

 _'You're still too weak, if you can't handle carrying this much blood within you how can you hope to defeat the Beast Starved of Blood?'_

She looks up as she reaches the top of the stairs, spotting the lantern. She can't help but smile to herself, the thought of safety in this neverending nightmare is a great comfort to her. As she walks closer to the lantern she begins to feel rather nervous. She walks to the small beacon of safety and kneels down, looking concerned, Instead of the light purple glow that usually illuminates the lantern, a dark orb occupies where the light should be. None of the messengers even appear to the base of the lantern.

She looks around, feeling concerned. Like something is watching her, she keeps a hand on her blunderbuss.

She kneels down and holds a hand out to it, perhaps she can still reach the Hunter's Dream. Perhaps the darkness she's seeing is the Insight fooling her again. She tries to will herself to the Dream, to the haven. All she senses is darkness, unending churning darkness that seems to hunger for something...

As she tries to peer through the darkness she hears a loud moan and a bubbling sound. She looks up in shock and then looks down, seeing a pool of darkness at the base of the lantern. A messenger, a single little white ghoul fighting through the thick oily darkness with a small item in it's hands. It sees her and moans in desperation, holding out the small item to her. She sits there, frozen in shock and question. The small messenger keeps trying to hand her the item until small black hands start to pull it down. It moans even louder, begging her to take the item. Before it's pulled into the starving shadows she snatches the item and watches the lone creature fall into the depths of darkness.

She looks down at the item. A small bell, it looks similar to a Resonant Bell. A small purple glow emenates from it, strange symbols carved into the bell. It turns it over in her hands, looking at them in question, nearly all of them unrecognizable except for one; the Hunter's Sigil. She puts the bell in her bag and looks towards the lantern once more. Thinking...

What had just happened? Was it the madness taking a hold of her mind? If she can't make it back to the Hunter's Dream, then what would happen if she were to perish? Death truly seemed something to fear now if that were to be the case. She looks in her bag, 10 Blood Vials left and 18 Quicksilver Bullets left.

"Unable to reach your Dream young lady?" A cocky voice asks.

Out of reflex she quickly dashes forward and looks to where she was. Two figures. One in dark clothing, a dark aura surrounding him. A hood over his face, something from Yahar'gul or so it seems. A saw cleaver in his hand, and a pistol in the other. The second, a bit shorter, a long cloak draped over them. The dark material covers most of their face, but not their nose or mouth. A devious smirk decorates the visible part of their face. No visible weapon on them but strange symbols decorate the cloak.

She stares at them warily. "Who are you?" She questions, a hand reaching towards her trusty axe. She eyes the Blade of Mercy on her belt, feeling it will come in handy.

The taller figure chuckles. "You don't need to know missy, but I feel like YOU shold be aware of the current situation." He chuckles, adjusting his hat a bit. "You know...the hunt is awfully dangerous tonight. A pretty little something like you shouldn't be out on a night like this." He presses the trigger on his weapon.

She growls softly as she grabs her axe and blunderbuss. "What do you want?" She asks, louder, more defiant.

The taller figure laughs again. He sighs as he looks at her. "I think the... _proper_ hunters...should be the ones roaming Yharnam and working to the end the long night. We shouldn't have to rely on outsiders." Before her eyes were able to register the movement she felt the razor ends of the blade bury it's hungry teeth into her shoulder. She screams in pain then quickly forces herself back, ripping her body rom the blade. She huffs as she uses a blood vial to relieve herself of the pain.

"You just can't make this easy on us can you?" He asks.

She scowls and extends the axe, the long reach will surely aid her. She quickly steps to the side as he buries the saw blade into the statue that was behind her. She takes what seems like an opportune moment and buries the axe into his back. She smiles at his yell of pain, but the satisfaction is shortlived when she feels a jolt of electricity shoot through her body. She yells in agony and is knocked to the ground by the saw blade. She pants as she gets to her knees, looking up the the two strange hostile figures. The shorter cloaked one as their hands out, pure energy swirling them. Shadows dance around their feet. The saw-cleaver weilding man's wounds begin to disappear, the skin and clothing healing seamlessly.

Fear is prominent within her, she knows. These two...they can't be from here she's never seen anything like them before! A regenerating hunter...and such a powerful arcane user. Stronger than any of the arcane users she's seen so far. She looks to the direction of the bridge, perhaps this is the only lantern she can't use. The one in Central Yharnam may work, or even the one in Iosefka's Clinic. She gets to her feet as she looks back at them, yelping as she barely bodges the next attack of the cleaver. Before they can attack her again she bolts, running down the stairs and past the two monsters she hadn't bothered to kill.

She hears them, both of them, maniacal laughing and pounding footsteps. Before she's about to run across the bridge she turns around and throws a Molotav Cocktail at them. The taller man dodges it, but the arcane user takes thr damage. Yelling in pain and anger. Before she has the chance to turn around and run again she takes a few swipes to the chest from the Cleaver Hunter. A growls as she steps back and quickly lands a few blows back to him. A few of the blows restore her vitality, wounds closing slightly. She uses get another blood vial. Before he takes another swipe she grabs her blunderbuss and shoot off a few bullets, six of them. That stuns both of them a bit and she takes the chance to run again. Quickly descending down the ladder. The elevator wasn't on her level and she had no time to wait for it.

As she runs through the sewers, past the corpses she yells in pain as she feels a sharp pain in her back. She pulls out the item that causes the pain, a poison dagger. She coughs a bit, feeling the poison coursing through her veins. She keeps running, doing a quick check in her bag, no Antidotes. She quickly uses another blood vial and runs up the small steps, seeing the ladder ahead. She can hear the footsteps of the other two behind her. She rushes to the ladder and sees another poison knife soar over her head and bury itself into one of the corpses.

She uses another blood vial as soon as she reaches the platform before climbing the next ladder. She feels the life drain from her with every step up the ladder. Her vision starts to go blurry as she stumbles forward onto the platform. Another two blood vials, the poison should almost out of her system by now. She looks down and sees the Cleaver Hunter almost up to the platform, she huffs as she bring the axe down, hearing the scream of him as he falls down. Before leaving she chucks another Molotav at the Arcane user to gives out an inhuman screech of pain.

She gives a soft chuckle as she stumbles forward a bit, using another blood vial.

' _Damn, this poison is the worst I've ever seen...or rather felt..'_ She thinks to herself, going over to a ladder and climbing up. She looks at the dimmed window of the home of the ittle girl she had given the brutal truth to. She shakes her head as she walks through the gate quickly making her way through the area, only held up by one of the dogs that had spotted her. Quickly dispatched. She limps throught the town, going as quickly as she can, soreness plauging her body. Past the carriages, past the first set of stairs and up the next. She only gives the two dead townspeople a passing glance.

Up another set of stairs, past the chained coffins and battered wooden crates then up the next set. She sighs in relief as she approaches the lamp. Kneeling down and holding out a hand to it, she pulls her hadn away once she gets a better look at the lantern. It was the same as the one in Odeon's Chapel. The dark orb where the soft glow of the candle should be.

"You'd think that you'd learn after the first time." She looks up and dodges the thrust from the extended cleaver. She backs up a bit and finds herself close to the edge of the ladder, she can see the Clinic. It's an unfounded hope, but perhaps if she gets there fast enough...

Thinking over her possibilites leads her to lowering her guard, to which the Cleaver Hunter takes the opportunity and kicks her off the ledge. She yells in pain as she lands on the carriage, pain rushing throughout her body from the rough impact. She gasps and quickly rolls off the carriage as the Saw Cleaver impales where she was a moment ago. She uses another two blood vials, she feels it, the serious effects of everything. The soreness, the pain. Just because the wounds are gone doesn't mean the pain leaves. Three vials left.

As she's about to make a dash to the clinic, past the gates, when the arcnane user appears in front of her. She doesn't have enough time to react when the arcane user knocks her back with a ball of flame. She groans in pain as she crahses against one of the rusty railings that are meant to prevent one from falling to their death. She shakes her head as she stands up, watching the two hunters approach her. She clenches her fist, a Bold Hunter's Mark in one fist. She kicks down one of the rusty railings and takes a step back, her right heel off the ledge.

The tall one scoffs. "Really? You're threatening to jump? I suppose this truly does prove something about you." He presses the trigger on his Saw Cleaver again. " _You're not cut out to be a Hunter."_ He chuckles.

She scowls, and as she's about to jump she hears something. So distant, but she heard it. A ring, a high octave chime of a bell. A small purple glow comes from her bag, she unconsciously pulls out the source of the glow. The strange bell.

The Cleaver Hunter freezes, staring at the bell. "Where did you get that?" He asks, a look of want in his eyes. He takes a step forward. "Where, did you get it?" He demands.

She scowls at him, hearing the chime again. A question, a question she must answer...to be summoned by this person's call and find possible safety...or to ignore and suffer her fate and the hands of these two. She looks at the fall behind her then looks at the two Hunters. "Go to hell." She says, ringing the bell, answering the call as she throws herself off the ledge.

"NO!" The man yells, as a purple mist starts to envelope her as she falls. Before she's whisked away she's struck with yet another poison knife, this time in her side. A gun goes off, the bullet burying itself into her right shoulder. Her vision starts to go dark as she's whisked away...to only God knows where.


	2. Dimensional Beckoning- Chapter 2

"So, why are we here again?" The duck asks exasperatedly, fixing his cap as he stares at the Underworld coliseum.

"Because Hades is hosting a tournament, and I wanna try my hand at it!" The energetic young man standing beside him says. His brown, gravity defying hair looking a bit more wilder than usual. He hadn't combed it in a while.

"Gawrsh, do you think it's really worth it to go through all that?" The large dog like creature asks.

"Yeah, I mean the worst that can really happen is that we lose." The young man smiles.

"Sometimes your optimism is too much Sora." The duck mutters, rubbing his eyes.

"Aw come on Donald, maybe there'll be a worthwhile prize at the end."

"Yeah, Goofy's right, that is a possibility. Aw come on don't be such a sourpuss." Sora smiles as he sees the duck making a face.

"Sora we are talking about Hades, the god of the Underworld. Are we sure there even IS a prize and it's not just some kind of deathtrap?" He asks, crossing his arms and tapping his foot. He waits for an answer as the other two look at each other then look at the gate to the Coliseum.

"You know, that is a good point...but Hades has to have something to bait people in with...right?" Sora says. They're all silent for a moment before the young man sighs. "Well we're already here, and we don't have much else to do."

"He's got a point there." Goofy says to Donald, laughing as the duck shakes his head.

"Fine, let's go." He mutters, walking to the gate. The two smile as they follow the tempermental duck.

They sign up for the tournament with Hades' two clumsy minions. Panic and Pain.

"Uh, you guys are signing up for the tournament?" The little blue Panic asks, writing down their names as he already has them memorized. They've been to this world enough times that they're well known amongst all the main residents.

Sora nods. "Yeah, has Hades given any kind of indication as to the prize? Any advertising?" He asks.

"Uhm..." Pain looks at Panic. They look at each other before dashing off, leaving behind dustclouds in the shapes of them. The room is quiet for a moment as the three friends think over he possibilities of what could happen should they proceed.

As Goofy opens his mouth to give an idea to the question all three of them were asking, a loud grinding noise is heard on the other side of the room, stone on stone. The three look in the direction of the loud noise and see a stone gate slowly rising. It takes a moment for the gate to be fully risen, but as soon as the way is open a small figure with a lantern appears, moaning and pointing to the doorway.

"I guess we..." Sora looks at the other two who nod. They follow him through the gate and look at the figure with the lantern, a pale old man with his eyes missing. His clothes are worn and raggedy. A shiver runs down Sora's spine, he walks faster through the gate, into a large arena. There are a total of three gates, all of them looking worn and covered in chains. Goofy and Donald pull out their respective weapons, staying wary.

"Welcome!" A loud and familiar voice booms over a loudspeaker. They look up to a large pedestal, where the God of the underworld sits with a devious smirk. "So, I see we have a few eager contestants." He chuckles. "But one good question is...can they last to the final round!" He yells. He quickly looks to one of his frightened minions. "Panic! Explain the rules to these three would you?" He gives a wave of his hand and a cigar appears, he lights it with a flame from his thumb as he puts it between his teeth.

"U-Uh yes sir!" The small blue demon creature rushes to the front of the platform and opens a scroll. "A-Ahem...rules. R-Rule one, n-no Drive Forms a-allowed. T-Two, no healing m-magic...only healing items such as potions. Three, three rounds, a lot can happen...s-such as a few _accidents_." Panic finshes reading through the rules, and looks at Hades.

"Well, you heard the rules. Now..." He stands up. "LETS GET READY TO RUMBLE!!!" He yells, as his shout echoes the first gate rises. A large creature emerges from the shadows, an annoyingly familiar foe- The Darkside, except this one has strange, dark red symbols on its body.

Sora gets into his fighting stance and summons the Kingdom Key. "You ready guys?" He asks. Smiling when they nod, he looks up to the Darkside, "Let's do this." He starts to run towards the large beast, dodging a few shockwaves caused by it's stomping. Donald yells as he casts Thundaga, Large collumns of lightning coming down upon the beast, staggering it.

While the beast is stunned Goofy spins around and falls over as he throws his shield at the pureblood Heartless. Sora smiles as he jumps up, landing on the shield then jumping again, launching himself further in the air. High above the Darkside he laughs as he does a somersault then brings his Keyblade down upon the beast. A loud roar is heard from the beast as it falls over and dissolves into harmless shadows.

Sora looks up at Hades as Goofy gets his shield back, and Donald readies himself for another attack.

Hades scowls as he rubs his chin, letting out a small puff of smoke. "Huh...I guess these guys have actually gotten a bit stronger since I've last seen them..." He smiles. "This is gonna be fun." He chuckles. "Panic! Pain! Go ahead and start round two."

The two minions nod and run off, both going over to a lever and pulling it down with their combined weight. Once the lever is down the gate starts to rise, from the gate two behemoths walk through, growling and snarling. One is smaller than the other, the larger one blue and the smaller one purple. The familiar black and red emblem on their chests, a large yellow horn atop both of their heads.

Sora looks to the other two and nods as they nod to him. Sora yells as he runs up to the smaller Behemoth and jumps as it swipes at him, he manages to land on its back and starts to swipe at the horn. Donald fires off fire and lightning at the larger Behemoth's horn, distracting it so Goofy can climb on its back. Goofy wobbles a bit as he almost loses his balance and falls off. As soon as he regains it he starts a spin attack on the horn.

Sora gives out a yell of surpise as the beast had manages to smack him off of it's head, he crashes on to the floor and quickly rolls out of the way as it starts to stomp again. He lets out a huff as he downs a small potion.

"Gawrsh Sora are you okay?" Goofy asks as he hangs onto the large Behemoth for dear life, he had manages to enrage it with the pain he caused it. Donald yells as he chases the rampaging beast.

"Yeah Goofy I'm fine, woah!" Sora manages to barely dodge another attack from the smaller creature. He stares at it as it growls at him, rearing up and getting ready to stomp on him. He waits for it to come down and at the last second he jumps up and throws the Keyblade towards it. He watches it soar through the air and bury itself into the head of the beast. He lands on the ground and moves out of the way as it starts to screech and roar in pain, it writhes in pain as it falls over. After a moment it bursts into a small bit of light, a heart floating up towards the sky. He takes a sigh of relief as he holds out his hand and brings the Keyblade back to him. He looks over to the other two. "How are you guys doing?"

Donald rolls his eyes as he turns away and ignores the yells of Goofy and the still rampaging Large Behemoth. "Oh, we're doing well Sora. The Heartless is still really angry and you know...alive. SO maybe you could, oh I don't know, HELP US OUT!!" He quacks loudly.

"Guys a little help!" Goofy shouts, his grip starting to slip. "A-Woah!" He yelps as he's thrown off, crashing into a wall.

"Goofy!" Sora yells.

"I'm okay fellas...but the room won't stop spinning A-hyuck." He groans, temporarily down for the count.

Sora charges towards the last Behemoth, dodging the flattening stomps the beast gives. He jumps up to land on the Behemoth but it moves at the last second and he hits the ground, landing on his knees. Donald shoots Blizzard spells at it while running around and trying not to get squashed.

Sora huffs as he chases after the fleeing Heartless, almost getting hit with Donald's attacks that kept missing.

"Donald quit trying to hit me!"

"Then get out of the way!"

"Then learn how to aim!"

Sora growls in a bit of frustration as he keeps chasing the Behemoth, finally trying to jump up on it again. This time succeeding, he keeps a tight grip of the messy fur and keeps striking the somewhat broken horn. Like Goofy before him, he hangs on for dear life; trying his damned hardest not to fall off. It takes some time, but once the horn breaks off it starts to writhe and screech in pain like the Behemoth before. Sora quickly jumps off as the Behemoth explodes into a faint light and a heart that floats up above.

Sora pants as he looks up at Hades. "I-Is that...all you've got Hades!" He says, still trying to catch his breath. Goofy slowly gets up and runs over to the other two, shaking his head and clearing his vision.

Hades scowls, upset that the three didn't perish or weren't in worse shape. "Hmm...go ahead and release the monsters in the fourth gate, the ones in the third probably won't be strong enough." He mutters, lighting another cigar. The two borderline incompetent minions obey and run off, pulling down the lever and raising the gate.

As the gate raises a loud groan in heard, not one but two. Thunderous footsteps are heard and the clunking of chains and weapons are heard. First two figures come out of the darkness, carrying large walking sticks and lanterns with a soft glow; they're a bit taller than Goofy. Their pale faces look like masks, but with closer inspection its their true faces. From behind them comes two even larger lumbering figures. One carries a large axe that looks like its stained with blood, and the other is dragging a large ball and chain. They look similar to the first two figures, but are covered in pale and raggedy clothing, the faces are similar to the smaller figures.

The three look absolutely horrified at the monsters they're presented with; they're unlike anything they've ever seen.

"Um sir? Where did you find these?" Pain asks, peering over the railing,

"You know...I have no idea. I was just looking for monsters in other worlds and I just stumbled onto these guys walking around this gloomy cathedral area. They weren't doing anything so I figured they wouldn't mind being taken away." He shrugs, letting out a puff of smoke. The two minions look at each other and shrug, looking down at the arena again.

Sora jumps back as one of the more human sized monsters swipes the walking stick at him, watching it as the creature looks to the other one and moans, pointing at Sora. Sora backs up a bit, as it's about to attack again a blast of fire came from Donald's wand and hit the thing head on. A strange noise was heard and it fell to it's knees. Sora takes the chance and starts swinging the Keyblade at it, getting in quite a few hits before it manges to get back onto it's feet. Sora grunts as he smacks it one more time with the blade. It groans, and from the wound Sora created, blood came spurting out, making Sora yell in surprise as it falls to the ground in death.

"Ah, gross!" Sora tries to wipe to blood off his face and spit out the bit that got into his mouth. He shakes as he looks at the creature that fell, looking a bit upset. His discontent with the situation is short lived as he has to dodge a large axe that threatens to split him in half.

Goofy and Donald are dealing with the large ball and chain beast, trying not to get flattened by the spinning weapon. After it had spun the ball and chain four imes it sat there for a moment, the two took the opportunity and attacked it as much as they could before they had to run away.

Sora huffs as he runs away a bit, the more human sized man-like creature chasing him faster than the giant. It tried to swipe at him again, only to fail again and take a Keyblade to the face. After it was staggered Sora slashed at him a bit more then jumped back as it had regained it's senses. It looked tired and wounded, an indication that he had done good damage. Sora backed up again to keep from getting killed by the axe.

He raises his Keyblade in the air and casts Thundaga, the first collumn vaporizes the human sized creature. The last two hit the giant head on, it stumbles back a bit. It looks at him angrily then lets out a loud moan as it brings the axe down. The ground shakes under the force of which the heavy weapon was brought down. It rests there for a moment, Sora takes the opportunity and gets a few hits in before having to back away again.

"Wah!" Donald quacked loudly as he and Goofy run away from the swinging Ball and Chain, then running back to do some damage to only frantically run away again. Sora pants aas he shakes his head. ' _This isn't working_ ' he thinks to himself.

His mind races as he thinks over what they could do as he leaps away from the axe that was thrusted at him. In an attempt to buy time he throws his Kryblade, watching it sin in the sair and bury itself into the creature's stomach area. It roars loudly and brings the axe down, again and again trying to hit the young man. Sora holds out his hand as he runs, summoning his weapon. He quickly makes his way to Donald and Goofy, running alongside with them.

"D-Donald! Goofy! I have an idea, what if we...we tried the new skillset?" He asks as he runs, out of breath.

"Gawrsh Sora are you sure! We haven't been able to get it right yet!" Goofy says, letting out a shout of surprise as the ball and chain giant starts swinging again.

"Are you crazy!" Donald follows up with Goofy's concern. All three quickly dodge the attacks of the giants.

"Do you have any other ideas?" Sora asks, firing off a Blizzard attack.

The two think it over. Donald huffs. "I think we only have one shot you big palookie so make it count!" He shouts.

Sora nods and looks at Goofy. "You know what to do Goofy!"

He nods and dashes off to the far end of the arena, the ball and chain giant was about to follow until Sora threw a small stone at it, getting it's attention. Sora watches to make sure both Donald and Goofy have time, wokring to distract both of the beasts. Donald is charging a magic attack, building up as much of it as he can.

"Are you guys ready!" Sora asks, starting to get cornered.

"Ready!" Goofy yells, spinning around. "Ready!" Donald shouts, his wand shaking all over the place.

Sora manages to get past the creatures and runs to the next far end of the arena. The positions the three are in looks like a triangle. "Go!" He yells, watching the giants lumber towards him.

Goofy lets go of his shield and goes bouncing off the walls, as Sora is about to jump up Donald unleashes a wave of fire towards the sky. Sora jumps up and lands on the shield, launching himself further into the air and throws his now spinning Keyblade into the wall of flame, watching it being wrapped in flames. As soon as he sees the weapon covered in the scorching flames he summons it back and with two hands keeps a tight grip on the Keyblade. He does a somersault and sees he's going to strike the giant underneath him.

' _Oh no._ ' He thinks as the strikes the giant in the face, feeling the flames envelope the large beast. He listens to it moan loudly in pain and sees it burst into light. He falls onto the ground with his Keyblade next to him the remaining axe giant about to cut him into bits with it's raised axe. As it's about to bring to large weapon down a large thunk is heard against the back of the giant's head. It falls back and bursts into light just like the previous one. Goofy's shield fell to the ground, it had still been bouncing around.

Sora takes a shaky sigh of relief and falls onto his back. "T-That...was..." he just focuses on catching his breath and getting the panic out of his system.

"Well that was sure lucky." Goofy chuckles as he retrieves his shield.

"That was too close." Donald huffs, walking over as help the exhausted boy up.

Sora nods as he looks up to where Hades and the other two look down upon them. Hades is seething, his cigar has been turned to ash. Panic and Pain watch him in fear.

"We won fair and square Hades!" Sora yells, poitning at him, a triumphant smile on his face.

Hades scowls as he turns away and walks into his room, as soon as the door behind the throne he had sat upon closed a small door appears on the same side where the pedestal was. The three sigh as they walk to the door, their bodies sore and tired.

As soon as they enter the door behind them closes and disappears, leaving them to the mercy of Hades. Hades growls as he goes over a few things on a piece of parchment, trying to find a loophole to say they've broken some kind of rule.

"Hades!" Sora says loudly, snapping the God of Death out of his daze.

"Ugh, so you guys survived the rounds that wre supposed to kill you, hurrah hurrah. Now get out." He says, snapping his fingers. A door appears behind the three.

Sora crosses his arms, and stares at Hades. Donald taps his foot. "We won Hades! You said there was a prize!"

"And your prize is not dying, congratulations. Now get out." He mutters as he walks over to the other side of the room.

The three don't budge.

He scowls as he looks at the three, not in the mood to deal with them. But also not in the mood to expend his energy and get into a fight. "Fine, fine." He sighs, walking over to a large chest he has. He snaps his fingers and it opens up to reveal a mess of random items inside. He rumages through the cluttred chest, throwing a few items out. Small boxes, old books and random scraps of paper are discarded.

He huffs as he looks at them, two items in his hands. "Well, this is the most valuable invaluable thing I've got so here." He hands Sora a purple bell. It fits comfortably in his hands. It's a medium size, intricate carvings founds all around. Unrecognizeable symbols and beautiful designs. Then a rolled up scroll is shoved at him, interupting his inspection of the srange new item. "This scroll will basically eplain what the heck it does, I don't think I ever used it. Never had any reason to. Now, that I've given you your prize, GET OUT!" He erupts into flames and points at the now open door.

"Are you-" The duck quacks in protest as he's quickly dragged away by Sora and Goofy.

The three trudge tiredly to their Gummi Ship, boarding and flying away.

"Where to now?" Donald asks, slumping in the dirver's seat.

"Let's go to Traverse Town. It's closer and I'd like to wash all this...blood off." Sora sighs, looking over the scroll. It was in hurried scribbles. ' _Maybe Cid can process this so we can get a better reading on it_.'

"Yeah, I'm sure Kairi would wanna hear about the tournament too!" Goofy says.

"Is she still training with Merlin?" Sora asks.

The two nod, having talked with Master Yen Sid earlier that week and both heard of the good progress she's making.

"Yeah, I'm sure she'd wanna hear about that." He laughs to himself.

The rest of the ride is silent. Sora takes a nap and Goofy stares out the window, all while Donald drives.

.-.

Sora sighs as he pulls a clean shirt over his head, one of the spare outfits he keeps in one of the rooms of the Hotel he usually finds Leon and the others in. It's about 500 Munny a month to keep the room occupied despite not being there. It can be a bit pricey sometimes but it's useful sometimes. A baggy white shirt and demin pants, as well as a pair of clean white socks. He had to put his main adventuring clothes in the wash. He looks in the closet and frowns when he sees his spare shoes all chewed up. His sandals are fine though. He groans to himself as he puts them on and walks out of the room, into the main part where they would usually meet up.

"You feeling better kid?" Leon asks, seeing some water drip off of Sora's hair.

"Yeah, being covered in blood is not fun." He sighs, stretching his arms.

"Was it really that bad?" Donald asks, looking at the now translated paper given to him by the exhausted Cid.

"Yes." Sora huffs, shivering at the feeling o the icky, crusty dried up substance that was on him. It did not feel nice. "Oh, is that the writing?" Sora asks, going over to the duck and looking over his shoulder.

"Yup, and according to the paper the bell is something that summons another person from another world." Goofy says.

"But, can't we already do that in a way?" Sora asks, pulling out a few charms that was given to him by a few friends such as Peter Pan, Genie, and Stitch.

"Sorta, but think of it as a person from a completely different dimension." Donald says, adding onto Goofy's explanation. "A person from a world that we've never seen before."

"Woah! And all we have to do is ring the bell?" He asks, quickly grabbing the item that gives off a soft purple glow.

Donald looks over the document. "Yeah, but I don't think we should ring just-"

Sora rings the bell, as he rings it he feels soehting leave him, something that felt important.

"Dang it Sora!" Donald quacks loudly.

A low chime is heard, it drones on for a moment before dying out. A small circle appears on the floor in the middle of the room, the chime is heard again, going on until it dies out only to be heard again. The room is silent, everybody stares at the glowing circle. They all sit there for a while, waiting for something to happen.

After a moent or so Donald sigh. "This thing is useless." He mutters, opening the door and about to walk away when a new sound is heard. Another bell, a chime of a higher octave. Everybody looks at the circle as it glows brighter, a mist appears near the ceiling.

"What the-" Donald starts, then quacks in alarm as a body falls from the ceiling crashing onto the ground with a yell of pain.

Everybody looks at the figure that suddenly appeared and looked shocked at their condition. Covered in blood, some of it looked fresh and some of it looked old. A knife was seen in their side.

They gasp as they pull the knife from their side, throwing it off to the side and panting.

Sora quickly runs over and looks at the person, he internally groans as he helps the person sit up, getting a bit of the blood on his arms. "What-"

"P-Poisoned...knife..." They mutter, a woman's voice. Sora's eyes widened and he looks up. Leon throws something at Sora, an Esuna. He quickly gives her the healing item. She coughs as soon as she downs it, it tasted overly sweet to her. But she feels relieved as she feels the poison leave her system.

Sora looks nervous, not sure what or who they summoned. "Who are you?" He asks, thinking that was a good place to start.

She looks at the young man, her vision blurry and her consciousness fading.

"I am...The Good Hunter...my name is..." she coughs up bit of blood. "Salem."

 **N/A- So, I hope you guys are enjoying the story so far. I'm thinking of making this a series with the story I'm planning out. I wanna hear your guy's thoughts on it! Thanks for reading! :D**


	3. Introductions

They were able to stop her bleeding, right now Aerith was in the room with the stranger who called herself Salem; changing her bandages.

"Where did she come from?" Sora asks, thinking aloud while he cleans up his arms. Goofy gives a shrug and looks at Donald and Leon.

Leon had put the strange woman's clothes to dry, it was hard to get the blood out but do-able. "Well, if that thing you read earlier is right, a different world."

Sora gives Leon a look. "Okay yeah I get that, but what I mean is WHERE did she come from? What world? What's it like? What is going on there that she was in such a bad shape?" He asks, starting to pace. The thought of such a dangerous world, where death must be everywhere-it sent shivers down his spine.

"Well, whatever it was I'd say she's in a better place now." Donald says, looking through the satchel that was found on the woman.

"Donald!" Sora looks at him. "Don't be going through her stuff! That's intruding on her privacy!" He scolds.

"We don't know anything about her Sora! For all we know she could be dangerous, and the items that one carries can tell a lot about a person." He mutters, pulling out a few pebbles and bullets. "Besides, she doesn't really have to know." He looks at Sora as he pulls out a glowing skull.

"Um, Donald?" Sora looks at the skull.

"What is it?" He snaps, looking back to the item in his hands. He quacks in alarm and out of instinct throws it away.

"Donald!" Sora yells, hurrying over to catch it, it lands in his hands. "Donald you can't do that! What if this thing is important!" As he scolds the scowling duck he unconsciously squeezes the skull in his hands.

"What can be so important about a skull!"

"I don't know, maybe she-" Sora's train of thought stops as he accidentally crushes the skull, stopping his talk. Something strange flows into his mind, something unnatural. A humming noise is heard and a faint aura appears around his head, fading away for a moment. He shakes his head and leans against the wall, a headache starting up, he can hear talking but he's not processing the words.

"See? Don't go on scolding me when you yourself broke the thing that might have been important!" Donald quacks, not noticing Sora's condition. After a moment he looks at the young man. "Sora are you okay?" He asks, now actually seeing him.

"Y-Yeah...it's just, my head hurts." He mutters, rubbing his temples. He goes over and sits down on a chair, laying his head down. It feels like his mind is trying to process and absorb something impossible.

"Hey guys I was finally able to...gawrsh Sora are you okay?" Goofy walks in with the weapons the woman had, he took the liberty to clean them off; thinking that might help. He put the axe, the small blade, and the gun on the desk. "You're not looking too good." He says, putting a hand on the boy's shoulder.

"Yeah, it's just a headache." He answers, the pain spiking up but fading every other minute or so. "Maybe I'll just lay down."

"I thought you were gonna see Kairi." Donald says.

Sora sits up, flinching in pain after the sudden movement. "Oh yeah...I should go see her. See how she's doing." He stands up, stumbling a bit.

"Are you sure? Sora I'm sure she wouldn't mind if it waited till tomorrow." Goofy says, looking concerned.

He nods. "I'm sure, besides, she'll probably wanna hear about the tournament." He walks out of the room, and out of the hotel.

Leon looks at where Sora had left, then looks at the two. "Is he okay, you know, after failing the whole test and all?"

The both sigh and look down. "He says he's okay, but I doubt it sometimes. He gets lost in thought and you see the unhappiness on his face." Goofy takes the weapons and hangs them on the walls.

"We've kept an eye on him, and he seems determined to get stronger. He's been getting more and more reckless as of late." Donald sighs, sitting on a chair. "The minute he heard of a tournament Hades was holding he decided to go all in. No thought, no reasoning, just fighting."

Leon looks at them. "Well, at least he has you two to keep him form killing himself. Imagine how much trouble he would get into without you guys." He chuckles softly. Standing up stright and heading towards the door to the next room. "Well, I'm going to go change, may as well get some training in." He says, walking out of the room.

The two sit in silence for a bit.

.-.

She's sweating up a storm, her hair up in a tight bun. She dodges a few fireballs and shoots Blizzard at a few of them, stopping them in their tracks. She rushes past the obstacles, ducking and rolling past small traps that try to catch her. After a moment, she jumps up then brings her Keyblade down on the dummy that was shooting magic at her, shattering it. The room goes still and all the illusionary obstacles disappear in a flah of light.

"Well done Kairi! You've improved greatly since the lst time we've done that exercise, 3 minutes and 26 seconds! Last time it was 6 minutes and 48 seconds. Merlin says as he walks into the training area.

"Thanks!" Kairi smiles as she has her Keyblade disappear. She looks at the wizard then gasps when she sees a certain someone beside the old wizard. "Sora!" She yells, running over and tackling him with a hug.

Sora laugh as he stumbles back a bit but stays upright. He hugs her back, then put her down. "Merlin's right, you ARE getting better." Sora chuckles. "But I still think you won't be able to beat me."

Kairi looks at him with a raised eyebrow. "Oh really?" She says, summoning her Keyblade and pointing the blade at Sora. "Care to be proven wrong?" She challenges.

Sora smiles and shakes his head, moving the blade away from his face. "Nah, I'm still sore from the tournament." He sighs.

Kairi looks at him. "Tournament?"

Sora nods and sits down, prompting Kairi to sit down with him. She sighs and sits down only to stand up again, listening to Sora speak as she stretched to cool down.

"So, they were creatures you've never seen before?" Kairi asks. "And when you killed the human sized ones they...just spurted out blood?"

Sora shivers. "Ugh, yeah. They didn't even have the Heartless emblem. I have no idea what they were." He sighs, rubbing his arms.

"Hmm, well you might not see them again. This was the first time you've seen them right? And since they didn't have the Heartless emblem so they might not be from this set of worlds. They possibly were just random monsters Hades picked up you know?" She sighs.

Sora shrugs. "Eh, maybe. Oh! We ended up winning this!" He pulls out the strange bell and shows it Kairi, the purple glow gone.

She looks at it, raising an eyebrow. "Uh...a bell?" She looks at him. "What is it suppposed to do?"

Sora sits back. "Well, when you ring it it supposed to ring out to someone else. It basically summons them to our world...although I have no idea how one would get back." He rubs the back of his neck.

She takes the bell and looks at it, looking at the carvings. "Have you already used it?"

Sora nods. "Yeah, and..." he thinks about the woman who appeared after the bell and been rung. "Well, someone did appear. She was in pretty bad shape, but she was doing better by the time we finished patching her up."

Kair hums, looking over the strange symbols of the bell. "I see...hey, did you recognize any of these symbols?" Kairi asks.

Sora shakes his head. "No, but I thought about maybe showing it to either Merlin or Yen Sid." He says, taking the bell back and putting it away.

Kairi looks at Sora then at Merlin's house. "I have a feeling that Yen Sid might have a better knowledge on stuff like that..." She says, looking back at him.

Sora gives her a look. "You just don't want me to give any distractions from your training." He chuckles. Kairi shrugs. "Well, I might also be right you know?"

Sora shakes his head. "Yeah yeah..." He yawns as he stands up and stretches. "Well, I may as well get back. My clothes should almost be done by now and you should wash up." He look at Kairi who nods and starts to walk away. "Yeah, well I'll see you later." She says.

Sora watches her for a minute before calling after her again. "Wait, Kairi! Do you have any idea where Riku is?" He asks.

Kairi stops and turns around to look at him. "The last I saw him, I think he went to Disney Castle to see King Mickey." She shrugs. "But that was right after you left, he seemed to be in a hurry."

Sora looks down then sighs. "I see..." He starts to think, it's been a while since he's been able to talk to his best friend. Ever since he failed the Mark of Mastery exam and Riku succeeded, it just felt like Riku had started to avoid him. He shakes his head, now he's just being ridiculous. He shakes his head. "Well, see you later." He smiles, then starts to walk away.

.-.

She groans as she opens her eyes, her entire body aching, her head still pounding. She lays there for a moment, trying to remember how she there. She closes her eyes and goes through the events in her mind. Couldn't return to the Hunter's Dream, then was given a stange bell, only to be chased away by two strange hunters. After running away she jumped and rang the bell, she was whisked away after being shot and having a knife buried in her side, and then...

She gasps as she sits up, looking around in panic. It was a well sized room, she was on a comfortable bed. The nightstand next ot her had a small lamp with an empty glass and a full jug of water. The doors didn't look like regular doors, more like sliding doors. She starts to slowly relax, remindig herself that if she had been in any true danger she would have been killed.

After taking a moment to calm herself she looks around for her satchel, only to find it missing. A scowl finds it's way on her face and she swings her legs over the bed, standing up and looking down. She realized she was dressed in different clothes, A large, baggy black shirt and gray sweat pants that she found very comfortable. She was barefoot, the cold wooden floors sending shivers up her spine. Her red eyes scan the room again, seraching for any kind of trap or enemy.

Once she deems it safe she slowly makes her way to the door, staring at it for a moment before slowly sliding it open a bit. She peeks out and looks at the next room.

There's a large duck dressed in blue talking to a large dog-like creature. There's a human leaning against the wall, keeping his head down and his arms crossed. She scans the room, moving her bluish, grayish hair out of her face. How she ended up getting a strange color in her hair? She thinks it had something to do with a mishap of dye, she knows she used to have blonde hair...but that's all she can really remember from her past life; other than a few details that seem too fuzzy to be counted on.

As she scans the room again and again she finally notices her weapons hanging on the wall. As she thinks about how to get her weapons she doesn't notice the dog-like creature looking at the slightly open door. Once she notices that she slams the door shut in panic and looks around for a makeshift weapon, hearing footsteps heading towards the door. She grabs an umbrella and stumbles as the pain in her head spikes again. Once the door opens and the creature walks in and looks around confused, she swings the makeshift weapon as hard as she can.

"Gawrsh where did she-WAH-OH!" He yelps as he's smacked upside the head with the umbrella. He falls over in a daze as the woman rushes out of the room, and before the two in the next room register her presence she grabs her axe and blunderbuss. As she's about to swing the axe it was blocked by a sword. She looks up in minor shock and sees the man blocking her swing. He stares at her. "Well, you're finally awake." He sighs, pushing her back and stepping away bit. "You done with your little bout of panic?" He asks.

She looks at him then a the duck who is staring at her in confusion, then looks up at the other creature who is now standing up. "Listen." He says. "If we wanted to hurt you, we would have done it already. There's no need to panic so calm down." He says, lowering his weapon as a gesture of peace.

She looks at the duck and the dog before looking back at the man. "So...beasts here are peaceful?" She asks, still feeling wary of the two.

Donald quacks and looks at her. "Beasts? That's kind of insulting! I am Donald Duck, the royal magician!" He shows off his wand.

"A-hyuck, and I'm Goofy! The Captai of the Royal Knights!" He says, summoning his shield.

She stares at them for a moment before looking back at the man.

He sighs. "I'm Leon, and I think you already told us you name...Slam was it?" He asks.

"Salem, The Good Hunter." She responds, looking over them all for a moment before sghing. "Well, I feel it is appropriate to thank you for saving my life and-"

"Hey guys!"

in instinct she whirls around, burying the shortend axe into the place where the head of the victim should have been. The young man she first saw when she landed in this world pales when he sees the splintered wood of the doorway. "Uh...bad timing?" He shakily asks, looking at the woman. She recognizes his and pulls her axe from the doorway. "Ah, apologies...you startled me." She says, stepping out of the way from the doorway so he could pass.

"Uh, it's...okay I guess?" He says, walking into the room and closing the door behind him. "Well, it's nice to see you're doing better." He says, standing next to Donald and Goofy.

Leon looks at them all, feeling the awkwardness in the room before sighing. "Well, now that we're all calmed down..." He puts his weapon away and leans against the wall. "Maybe we should know how you ended up the way you did."

Sora looks at her. "And, quick question. Where are you from? The bell is supposed to summon you from a different world...a world that none of us have seen before." He says, unable to hold in his curiosity.

She looks at the young man before sitting down the the small table where Donald is, putting her weapons down but nearby. "I don't believe I got your name." She says.

"Oh, I'm Sora, a Wielder of the Keyblade!" He holds out his hand and the key shaped sword appeared. She raises an eyebrow, never hearing of something called a 'Keyblade.'

"Well Sora, I am from a place called Yharnam. And I am a Hunter..." she looks at Leon. "I had been attacked by two strange hunters while I was clearing out Central Yharnam again."

They all look at eachother. "Hunters?" They all ask in unison. "And what do you mean by clearing out Yharnam again?" Sora asks.

She sighs. This was going to take a while.


	4. A New Ally

"I can't believe this, refusing to kill monsters because they're people...you're even more pathetic than that other hunter." The man growls, putting his gun to the head of the battered and bruised Djura. The old man flinches when he hears the scream of pure agony from his old comerade. He looks at the man. "Ebon...why, how? You...you died...as did David, Gehrman told us-"

"Shut up!" The man yells, shaking in rage at that name, the name of that liar. "Gehrman told you? Did he tell you that he sent Eileen to kill us? Did he tell you she shoved me off one of the towers in Cainhurst after brutally leaving David to the beasts!" His finger is twitchy, the entire pistol shaking in his grasp.

The old Hunter scowls. "I'm starting to see why old friend...you've gone mad." Djura slowly stands up, trying not to set Ebon off. He still looks like a young man, despite him earning his official title of Hunter the same time around Djura. He's forced to his knees again with a hard smack from the pistol.

"I am not mad!" He yells. "None of you could understand...none of you. I knew the only way to end the hunt...but you all called me crazy!"

Djura looks down, remembering it all. How they ridiculed and scolded him for such an insane idea. It would be madness to even TRY that. He looks up to his old friend. "At least answer me this...before you kill me. How are you still alive? And why are you doing all this?"

Ebon stares at him for a moment before a chuckle escapes his throat, slowly turning to mad laughter. Ebon stops after a moment before he looks back at the old man. "How I'm alive? Let's just say an old friend saved me from certain death...and as for why..." He's quiet for a moment before firing off the pistol, ending the old Hunter. "I intend to end the long night." He chuckles, watching the body fade and disappear.

He stays quiet as he listens to his friend climb up the ladder. Once he hears him reach the top he turns to the shrouded man. "Now...let's head to the Church of the Good Chalice...shall we?" He asks, wiping off a bit of blood from his clothes.

The cloaked man nods, and looks over the city. "I still remember...when they burned this place down." He says simply, his voice raspy. Ebon stands next to him, nodding quietly. "So many had protested against it, and so many of us saw it as the ony way to keep this place's epidemic from spreading so fast but..." He looks down. "We were foolish to not suspect the blood...ignorant fools."

David turns around. "It was inevitable...we should have known..." He mutters as he heads towards the ladder, starting to climb down.

Ebon stares at the scene, squinting his eyes. "David hold on." He listens to the footsteps ascending the ladder, then sees him walk up ton him. He points off to the distance, where a strange figure is seen walking over the bridge. "Who the hell is that?" He growls, pressing the trigger on his Saw Cleaver.

David shakes his head, running towards the ladder and quickly descending. Ebon follows, jumping off the next ladder with David following him. They rush towards the old and decrepit building, climbing the ladder and making their way to the area of the bridge.

Ebon looks around, unable to see any trace of the strange figure seen earlier, surprised they hadn't even seen him on the way over.

Ebon sighs to himself. _'My Insight must be fooling me again.'_ He thinks to himself. He turns to his companion. "Come, The Church of the Good Chalice awaits." He says, turning around and beginning to walk off.

"I must say you two are very impressive." The voice of an old man says, making them whirl around in alarm. They see an old bald man with tan skin. Wearing black and white attire, looking very nice. Yellow eyes pierce into them.

"And who the hell are you?" Ebon raises his weapon.

The old man chuckles. "I am not a threat, that I can assure you. I am merely an old man seeking help." He looks at them. "And I believe you two can help me."

The two look at each other and slightly lower their guard, but still keep their wary nature. "And why would we help you?"

The old man chuckles. "A while ago I saw that you had a bit of trouble with another Hunter, one that carried a very important item. I believe it was called the Dimensional Beckoning Bell." He smiles, he doesn't flinch when the Saw Cleaver is inches from his face.

"How do you know about that?" Ebon demands.

The man chuckles, using a finger to move the Saw Cleaver from his face. "I am, I suppose you would call it, a successor of the people who assisted making that special item. Keyblade Wielders assisted in making the powerful bell that rings out beyond your world."

"I haven't ever heard of a Keyblade Wielder, how do I know you're telling the truth?"

A flash of dark light appears and a strange blade is pointed at Ebon's neck. He looks at it. "And I assume THAT is a Keyblade?" He mutters, stepping back when they both lower their weapons. "It doesn't look very effective."

"Oh believe me my boy, it is. Each blade is shaped diffrently for its wielder."

Ebon narrows his eyes. "Oh? Then let me see." He holds out his left hand, asking for the blade.

The old man chuckles and hands him the dark blade. As Ebon inspects it he's startled as it suddenly disappears from his hand and back into the hand of the old man. "The blade chooses its wielder, and clearly you are not one." He makes the Keyblade vanish.

Ebon sighs deeply, his patience starting to wear. "Back to our previous discussion, you said you needed help?"

"Ah yes, the assistance I have asked for. Well, you see quite a few of the beasts found in your world I have found in mine. In many of the worlds in my, dimension. None of the people can fight against them, and what's worse their are fiends who assist them. I have tried to fight back the horde that has invaded my world with my own minions to no avail." As he finished his sentence shadow creatures appear around him. The two Hunters growl and ready their weapons, seeing the creatures as beasts they haven't encountered before.

"Ah, calm down. You see these creatures used to be people once, but fell and turned into these monstrosities. They follow the strongest one they can find, that at the moment being me."

The two keep their defensive stances, eyeing the creatures that sink back into the man's shadow.

"As I was saying, I require your help to rid my world of these beasts and of the fools who insist on helping them spread their darkness everywhere. I can lend you a few of my minions, Heartless I call them, and I can take you to my world. Only if you agree to help me." He holds out his hand.

Ebon and David look at each other and look back at the man. "First let us slay the beast that lies in The Church of the Good Chalice." Ebon says. "Then we shall come to a decision." He and David turn around and start to walk away.

"May I accompany you?" The old man asks. "I believe I can be of assistance."

Ebon is about to object and ridicule the old man for his age, then he remembers Gehrman. That bastard's old, and he's a force to be reckoned with.

"Fine." He says. "Although I must warn you, many beasts lie ahead."

"I can watch out for myself." He sighs, a bit irritated.

They stood before the church, the two Hunters covered in blood and the strange old man somehow clean.

"So I take it this is your intended destination?" The old man asks, looking inside. He receives nods from the other two who prepare themselves with fire paper, molotov cocktails, and antidotes.

Inside the great church is a large beast, twitching and growling at the altar.

The old man walks inside, summoning his Keyblade once again. He ignores the surprised shouts of the two Hunters he left outside the church, smirking when the monster starts to screech. "Such a pathetic creature you are." Dodging to the side with ease, he sees the two Hunters traverse through a strange fog that appeared in the entryway.

The beast screeches again and swipes at the old man who sidesteps every one of the swipes that are taken to him. As soon as he sees an opening he raises his weapon and brings it down on the monster's side with great force, dark shadows had come from the blade and cut into it's side repeatedly. It screams in pain and starts to bleed profusely.

The two Hunters looked at the old man in shock, surprised he was able to do so much damage with just one hit. They are snapped out of their awe when the Blood-Starved Beast starts to let out a toxic substance. Ebom huffs and grabs a Molotov Cocktail, tossing it at the beast to get it's attention. It turns to him and starts to scream again, charging and swiping at him furiously.

While the hunter dodges he rubs his Saw Cleaver with the fire paper, setting his most trusted weapon ablaze. He yells as he starts taking swings at the monster, nearly falling over as he received a few hits back, then quickly backing away. The beast is about to charge at him while he heals, but its attention is caught by the Arcane user who sent a a firey blaze at the beast.

As soon as the creature makes up its mind to charge at David it's struck again with the firey pain of the Saw Cleaver, flinching away from each hit until it finally is able to strike back. Ebon stumbles back a bit, only managing to dodge to the side before falling over. He rolls out of the way of the frenzied strikes, coughing as he chokes on the toxic fumes. David doesn't have enough time to set off another powerful arcane attack.

The old man sighs, figuring it was time to end this. He steps back a bit and points his Keyblade at the Blood-Starved Beast, a dark light surrounding the blade. After one moment he fires off the powerful spell, chains coming from his Keyblade. As the Beast is about to strike the trapped Hunter its suddenly wrapped in glowing chains, it screeches in pain and tries to fight against the pulling force.

Ebon gets up and gains some distance, taking the chance to take an Antidote before branding his weapon with flames. He yells as he comes to strike the beast down when a fireball rushes past him and hits it. He keeps going and charges his attack, bringing it down on the beasts head with great force. It lets out one more bloodcurdling screech and falls over in defeat, seeming to explode with blood.

Ebon pants as he takes another antidote and heals himself once more. "That was...harder than I thought it would be."

The old man chuckles. "A good lesson of the use of humility for you." He says, having his strange blade disappear. He watches the arcane user walk to the altar, seeing a lamp appear. He raises an eyebrow in question until he sees a dark flame appear in his palm, surrounding the lamp. The lamp gave off a faint purple light that was suddenly smothered by the darkness. It could no longer be used to transport between the Hunter's Dream or Yharnam.

The old man looks at them. "Now that the beast of this church is gone, my I ask once more for your help?"

Ebon looks at the old man. "I thought of it, while we were fighting. And before I give you your answer I must have your clarification on a few things. One, the strange creatures you showed us are followers of you, and if we were to agree to assist you we can use them? Two, you say the plague has spread to your world, which is made up of different worlds? And third, you say there are individuals willing to help the beasts, and bring harm to others?"

The old man nods. "Yes, if you agree you may use the Heartless. Indeed my world is made up of different worlds, each very different from the last. And as for you last question, yes. There are these young pests, fighting against my Heartless, seeming to want the destruction of the worlds as they thwart my attempts to bring them into a new era."

Ebon nods. "I can understand that, I too, inend to bring Yharnam into a new era. Out of the darkness of the plague and into the light of day once more. And I find there is only one way to achieve that."

The old man raises an eyebrow. "And pray tell, what is your way to reach your goal?"

Ebon smirks. "I will ascend into Greathood, the power of a Great One is the only way this can all come to an end. To end the long night, and clean the streets of the filthy plague caused by greediness of the Yharnamites."

The old man smiles, holding out a hand. A dark aura surrounds it. "I can help you achieve that noble goal."

Ebon smiles, taking the old man's hand and shaking it, the flame spreading to his hand and up his arm. "I am Ebon, and this is David." He motions to the hooded hunter. "Tell me friend, what is your name?"

The man smiles, a dark portal appears behind him. "I am Keyblade Master, Xehanort."

 **Sorry It took me a while to get this posted and the chapter is kind of short, but I still hope you enjoyed this installment! Have a good day/night everybody, I hope you all are doing well!**


	5. A Following Threat

Disclaimer: I do not own Bloodborne/Kingdom Hearts

Enjoy the Chapter!

"So you hunt monsters...because the people were always monsters?" The young man asks, not having really understood or listened to the explanation.

Salem huffs, a bit irritated. "Listen, all you need to understand is that I am a Hunter, I hunt the beasts of Yharnam that used to be people. SInce they are now monsters, there is no use in treating them like people, I slay them and collect their blood, using it to make myself stronger. Is that simple enough for you?" She asks, rubbing her temples; a headache starting up.

Sora nods. "Yeah, seems simple enough..." He looks at her. "How much blood can you collect? Unlimited, or is there only a certain amount you can get?"

She gives him a look. "I can carry many, but too much can cause me headches, and aching joints. It may be different for everyone." She takes another glance at him. "And what exactly is your role? Are you just a resident of this place? Or perhaps an explorer?"

"Sora is a Keyblade Wielder! One of the strongest!" Donald says. "We told you this." He crosses his arms and taps his foot.

"Yes, you did. But what exactly does a Keyblade Wielder do?" She asks. "Just stay in one place until called upon, or do you travel around looking for work?"

Sora rubs the back of his neck. "Well, we usually train or visit old friends unless a big threat has shown up again. Then we usually go around to different worlds and clear out as many Heartless as we can until they back off and leave the place alone."

Salem raises an eyebrow in question. "Heartless?" She asks.

They sigh. This was going take a while.

.-.

The silver haired teenager walks through the great halls of the castle, wondering silently to himself why he had been summoned ny the King so quickly. Had Xehanort risen up again? So soon?

He shakes his head, banishing the thoughts away for the moment as he opens the large doors to the library. When he opens the doors he met with an interesting sight. Chip and Dale and running up and down ladders scaled for them, carrying thick books to a table in the middle of the room where the King sits.

He looks through each book carefully, scanning each page with a critical eye. From where the young man stands it's clear the the mouse has been in the library for a while. He's exhausted, and there are many papers and books on specific pages scattered about.

"King Mickey?" He asks, warily stepping inside, not wanting to crush the chipmunks that frantically run around.

Ther large mouse looks up with a start, seeing the young man and smiling. "Riku! You're here! Great, to see you." He says, putting a small paperweight on the page he was reading. "Heh, excuse the mess. I've been researching a few things."

"Clearly." Riku chuckles. "How have you been Mickey?" He asks.

"In all honesty, exhausted. Ever since the whole fiasco with the Mark of Mastery Exam I've been keeping a close eye on the worlds, paranoid. If there's even the slightest change in something I rush over there as fast as I can. I gave the residents of Twilight Town a scare the other day, what I think was even more frightening was what I had found there." He says, rubbing his eyes.

Riku looked concerned, Mickey was often a hardworking person, but working himself this much? No wonder he looked exhausted, he never stopped when the threat of Xehanort had temporary left them. Even with the rather large decrease in Heartless in quite a few of the worlds, he thought Mickey would have at least found some kind of solace in that.

"And what exactly did you find?" He asks, knowing Mickey was most likely going to show him anyway.

The mouse shudders and sighs. "I found this in the tunnels." He says, motioning for Riku to follow him.

Riku obeys and follows him, a sick feeling appearing in his gut when they reach a table covered by a thick white cloth. He watches Mickey as he hesitantly pulls the cloth back.

Riku nearly vomits with what he sees, it has the body of a person, a woman to be a bit more specific. Draped in what appears to be tatters of a dress, slimy tentacles are draped over the shoulders. Where the head should be is what looks like an oversized brain with grotesque eyes that are still open, but dull from death. Wounds can clearly be seen from where the creature was struck.

Mickey looks away. "Whatever it is, there were a lot of victims in the tunnels; suffering from bloodloss and what had appeared to be temporary madness." He shudders. "I was able to kill it, but I fet pretty ill afterwards. Thankfully I was able to get the people in the tunnel help before it was too late, I noticed that one of them was Hayner..." He says quietly.

Riku was finally able to tear his eyes away from the thing, covering it back up with the cloth. "Was..." He gagged for a moment. "Was there anything else?" He asks, turning away, the smell was putrid, starting to make his eyes water.

"There was this weird little creature, pretty disturbing but it seemed harmless, it was small. Many faces on it body, it scittered away quickly, and as I chased it, it disappeared. I had it cornered and as soon as I was about to strike it it just faded away into a small puff of purple fog. For all we know it was a scout for whatever that thing is."

As Riku is about to put in his thoughts the two chipmunks start to make a fuss.

"King Mickey!" Dale yells.

"Riku!" Chip shouts afterward.

"We found something!" Dale yells, jumping up and down with his brother.

The two rush over to see what they found.

On the table was a book, opened up to a page with illustrations of the slain creature on both pages from different angles. On the next page was a name and description of said creature. Both Riku and Mickey read through it quickly.

It was called a Winter Lantern, and as soon as it spotted you it would induce something called frenzy upon the victim. The temporary madness could lead to the body of the victim rejecting it's own blood or leading to the victim hurting themselves.

"Where did you find this book?" Mickey asks, flipping through a few of the pages; seeing more horrid monsters.

"On the top shelf your majesty!" Dale answers.

Mickey closes the book and looks at the cover. It's a worn gray leather book, the cover is decorated with a strange symbol. It looks like a star with an eye in the middle, the eye has a small yellow glow within it.

"That's a strange symbol...have you ever seen it?" Riku asks.

The King shakes his head. "Never."

Riku looks concerned. "That thing can't be a Heartless, it would have disappeared...Mickey...do you have any clue where it could have come from?" He asks.

Mickey shakes his head. "No, but I feel that we should takwe this information to Master Yen SId."

Riku nods.

Mickey looks at the chipmunks. "Can you fellas organize these books for me? I feel like these can still help us out."

"Yes sir!" Chip says.

"Will do!" Dale adds on as they run off.

Riku looks at Mickey. "Come on, we can take my Gummi ship. You can read a bit more of that book on the way to the Tower."

Mickey nods and runs off to where the ship docking area was, Riku follows.

Both feel very unsettled with what they may have to face in the future, this unknown and dangerous enemy.

.-.

She sighs. "So you killed this man at LEAST two times...and he still isn't dead?" Salem asks, glaring at Sora.

He rubs the back of his head, they had given her a quick summary of what they've faced so far. Save for the exam.

"This may come off as harsh but can't you at least do that right? Kill somebody?" She asks.

"Well in our defense it was two different versions of him. His Nobody version and Heartless version are extremely different." Donald mutters.

"But you'd think he'd still be dead, if those were technically two halves of him."

"Well..." Sora looks down.

Salem gives him a look. "You're kidding. Are there more versions of him!"

"Thirteen versions to be exact." Sora says.

Salem rubs her eyes. "Good god, why and how?" She mutters.

Sora opens his mouth to answer when Salem holds out her hand to keep him from talking. "No, stop. I don't even want to know." She sighs.

Sora nods.

Leon looks at her. "From what you tell us, the whole hunter and beast thing and all. Is that all you know...or are willing to share?" He asks.

Salem shoots a glare at him. "...Do not sully your hands with the bloody history of Yharnam..." She simply says, not breaking eye contact with him.

Leon holds her gaze for a moment before looking away. "Is it really that bad?" He asks.

She looks in a different direction, her head pounding form the many thoughts running through her mind and the blood through her veins. "From what I have found out, yes. It really is."

Leon sighs and stands up, starting to walk away. "I'm going to get something to eat. Any of you want anything?" He asks.

"I'll take a sandwich!" Sora says. "Turkey, Ham, and Cheese!"

"Eh, Soup of the Day." Donald says, not really caring.

"I'll take the Sandwich of the Day." Goofy says, he's been trying to go down the menu of the cafe.

Leon nods and looks at the strange visitor. "And you?"

Salem looks confused. "I don't necessarily eat, if I ever was hungry I would just down a Blood Vial. That was the closest thing to food I really had."

The room fell silent, the mere thought of drinking blood just for sustenance seemed quite disgusting.

Leon breaks the silence by opening the door. "I'll surprise you." He sighs, leaving the hotel.

Sora looks at the others, then at Salem. "So, you didn't exactly explain how you were injured when you arrived." He steps back, almost expecting a harsh glare from the seemingly secretive woman.

She gives him a small look. Then sighs, as she looks out the window. "I was attacked by two other Hunters. I was unable to get back to the Hunter's Dream, and when I was going to attempt it once more by reawakening; I heard the bell." She looks at them. "I was given a Resonant Bell, a strange one with symbols foreign to me. A usual Resonant Bell was used to provide fellow Hunter's with assistance within Yharnam. It seems this one takes me to different worlds."

The three look at each other. "So, you hear the chime of a bell, and you rang another bell in response...can we see you bell?" Goofy asks.

Slem reluctantly nods and goes over to get her bag, looking through a few things before taking out a small bell. The purple glow was dull, slightly active. She hesitantly handed it to the large dog-like creature.

Goofy looked it over, seeing Sora come over with the bell they were given by Hades.

One symbol was the same, a three pronged figure with a dot on the bottom. Donald joins them in inspecting the bells, he takes the smaller one and shows it to Salem. "What does this symbol mean?" He asks.

She barely has to glance at it before recognizing the rune. "The Hunter's Mark." She says.

Donald stares at her, expecting more of an explanation. He waits for a moment before huffing and turning around to compare the bells again. They see a few similar marks, one being a strange X, another being a foreign symbol. They try to think what some of the runes could mean.

"Maybe we should take these to Master Yen Sid, he might know more about what these mean." Goofy says.

"Maybe he can tell us where they came from too." Donald adds.

Salem stands up, not liking the idea of them taking the item that saved her life, let alone the item that leads her to her objective of assisting others. "And who is this Yen Sid?" She asks.

They look at her, turning towards her.

"Master Yen Sid is a powerful sorcerer. He trained King Mickey!" Goofy says. "He's a really good guy, maybe you should meet him."

"Goofy!" Donald scolds. "You know we can't just bring random people with us! What about keeping the order!"

"Considering our streak, I'd say we've done plenty of rule breaking there." Sora says. "And, it's her bell. I think she has a right to know about what the symbols could mean." He argues.

Salem wasn't listening, she had retreated to her room to get dressed. She quickly put on her Hunter's Set of clothing, adjusting her hat before she quickly opens the door. While Sora and Goofy argue with Donald, she walks over and grabs her weapons, putting her blunderbuss on it's holster on her back and putting the axe on her back as well. She quickly grabs her satchel and puts it over her shoulder so it is at her side. She looks at the arguing trio, her scowl hidden by the cloth over her mouth. With her armor on and her weapons on she doesn't feel as vunerable. She feels stronger.

"Shut up!" She yells, startling the three. She walks over to them and takes her bell back, putting it into her bag. She looks back at them and glares at Donald.

"Listen here you oversized, flightless avian! I will accompany you to this Master Yen Sid whether you agree or not, and you will not complain about it because God help you if you try to obstruct me from doing so." She pulls her axe out and has the blade in front of Donald's face. "Do I make myself clear?"

Donald quacks in fear and steps back a bit.

The other two watch as he slowly puts her axe away and turns to the door. "Meanwhile I will be waiting. Find me when you're ready to leave." She mutters. Opening the door and seeing Leon in the doorway.

"Uh, here's your sandwich." He says, pulling out a wrapped item from the large bag. She takes it and walks past him, out of the hotel and into the large town.

.-.

"In retreospect maybe it wasn't best to just storm off." She mutters to herself as she walks through the town, it's quite beautiful. It doesn't have the charm of Yharnam however, or perhaps it was just the atmosphere she was used to. She sighs as he takes another bite of the sandwich Leon had given to her, it was actually quite delicious. She quickly takes another bite, finding the food satisfying.

A few people have given her strange glances, the clothing she wears is very outdated to them. She ignored the looks, not particularly caring. Right now she was in a place called the Second District, there were shops all over the place. She didn't pay attention to what they sold, not caring much.

She walks down a set of stairs, walking up to a fountain. She decides to sit down by it, finishing up her sandwich.

"This place is rather beautiful, it would be a shame if the hunt were to spread here. Nobody here can exactly defend this place. Nobody here is a Hunter..." SHe says to herself, thinking about Yharnam again. Despite being in constant danger there, she missed it. She misses the thrill, the danger, the seemingly simplicity of everything there. Fight to survive.

She's snapped out of her thoughts when a woman starts to speak to a strange figure.

"Sir? Are you alright?" A woman in a green dressed asks, her brown hair in a tight bun.

The man stares blankly at her for a moment, like Salem's his clothes seemed a bit outdated. In his right hand was a lit torch, and in his left was an axe. Within a split second he yells and raises the axe.

Out of instinct, Salem rushes forward and pulls the woman back, pulling out her axe and striking the man with it. Panting as he yells and stumbles back.

He screams as he burns her with the torch. "It's all your fault!" He shouts.

Salem scowls as she sidesteps and strikes him with the axe two more times, making him fall to the ground limp. As she stands up straight she hears a loud shriek of horror. She looks to the source and sees the woman pointing at her in horror. "Murderer! Murderer!"

She's about to object as she hears another scream. She turns around the see a man impaled by a pitchfork as he's attacked by a dog. She scowls as she extends her axe, running up to the monsterous townsman and his dog. She quickly dispatches the two, the two monsters and the one victim falling to the ground. She looks down the alleyway, where she sees a large group of the infected townspeople walking from a large dark portal, a few more monsters emerge from it and it disappears.

Salem pales for a moment, then scowls as she runs towards the mob, quickly charging an atttack and spinning the axe around. It makes them angry and each attack her at a differnt time, a cleaver is swung at her, pitchforks try to impale her, and axe try to split her skull. She manages to dodge these multiple assaults when a gunshot rings out and grazes the side of her face. She pants and looks at the residents of the world. One of them was bleeding from the side.

"Get out! Get out of here, spread the word!" She yells. Quickly dodging and shooting another townsperson. "Tell everyone to get inside as soon as possible go!" She orders them. Without hesitation they all leave, helping the one injured resident of the town.

She turns back to the mob, scowling and readying herself. These ones seem stronger than the ones she usually faced off with.

.-.

"Sora sighs as he looks around, unable to find Salem. "I thought she would have been around here more or less." He says to his companions.

"Well she should have just stayed in the hotel. That would have made things much simple." Donald mutters, crossing his arms and tapping his foot.

"I'm sure we'll find her. She couldn't have gone too far." Goofy says.

"Yeah well-" Donald is interrupted by screams of many people, they run past the three as fast as they can. The trio look at each other and nod, running to where the crowd had come from, the Second District.

When the three run into the area they're shocked with the sight they're met with. Bodies everywhere around the fountain, and in the middle of them, walking towards an alley, is Salem. From where they stand they can see that she's covered in blood, and she's slightly limping. They watch her limp out of view, into the alley. As soon as they start to follow her they see her knocked back against a wall, only to be seemingly crushed by a large brute with a brick. It steps back for a moment to crush her again, only to be shot at in mid attack. The three flinch when they hear a strange sound.

They watch the clearly pissed off, and bloody Salem run up to the beast and in a swift movement, thrust her hand in the beast's chest and roughly yank it out, spilling the beast's guts out everywhere. It falls on it's back and tries for a moment to get up, only to give up and die.

They watch in terror as she wipes some of the blood off her face, and collects something from the bodies she's surrounded with. They feel even more horror and disgust when she takes a syringe of the stuff and stabs it in her leg.

After a moment she brushes some of the blood off and runs down the alleyway, they can only stand and wonder what they just witnessed.

"She said she's a Hunter..." Sora says. "B-But I didn't think she'd be THAT brutal..."

"And to think there are other people who can do that too...who can be running around in her world..." Donald mumbles.

Goofy stays silent, not sure what he could say, or if he should even say anything.

After a moment they see Salem running back from the alleyway. "We need to go!" She says, running up to them.

"What's going on! Why did you kill all these people?" Sora had demanded, snapping out of his shock in time.

She looks at him, pulling the cloth that covers half of her face down. The taller, older woman stares him down. "They are not people, they are beasts. Perhaps they once were, but now..." She sighs, and looks at the three sternly. "They are beasts from my city, Yharnam. There are more but it seems the door is blocked off, for now. We need to leave while we can and we need to figure how the hunt has spread here!" She says, about to walk off.

"What the hell is going on!" Leon runs into the area. "There are people screaming about monsters here and..." He sees the woman covered in blood, a scowl decorates his face. "What did you do?" He demands.

She huffs. "I did what I had to, the hunt has spread here somehow." She looks at him straight in the eye. "You are a skilled fighter correct?"

He nods. "Yeah, and what about it?"

he door behind him opens, two girls running in. Kairi and Yuffie. "What's going on!" Kairi says, seeming alarmed. She gasps when she sees the strange woman covered in blood.

Salem glances at them then looks back at Leon. "Keep the town safe. I don't know how long the beasts behind that door in the alleyway will hold against the beasts. I fear when the presence of a Hunter fades they'll come back. Whenever I leave for the Hunter's Dream the presence of a Hunter leaves, and the beasts come back. Regenerated by the blood I believe."

Leon stays quiet, glaring at her. "Do you intend to clean up the mess of this hunt?" He asks. "To stop it from coming into our world in it's entirety? You're not just going to leave it like this are you?" He asks.

Salem shakes her head. "I am a Hunter, it is my duty to face the hunt. End the long night."

They stand in silence for a while before Leon sighs. He looks at the girls. "You think you two can help me out by getting everybody to safety?" He asks.

They nod. "We'll be back to help you Squall." Yuffie says, looking at Kairi then rushing out of the district.

Kairi looks at Sora, who nods. "We'll be back soon, be careful." He says to her.

Kairi waits for a moment before nodding back at him. "Same to you." She turns around and follows Yuffie.

Leon looks at them. "Well what are you waiting for?" He asks. "Go."

Sora and company nod, running off.

Before Salem follows them she gives a few things to Leon, two strange, rough papers that seem to glow with fire within, and five bottles with a cloth attached at the top. "These beasts are weak to fire, the fire paper will set you weapon ablaze for a small while, and the Molotov Cocktails can do them great damage. Good luck." She says before running after the trio to the First district.

"So, where exactly is this Master Yen Sid?" She asks, following them out the main door and to a large ship, she took a moment to stare in awe.

Sore looks at her. "The Mysterious Tower." He says, then running in. She follows, hoping that this sorcerer will have some kind of answers.


	6. A Desperate Hope

**Disclaimer: I do not own Bloodborne/Kingdom Hearts**

 **Enjoy the Story**

Salem groans as she leans against the window of the ship, as soon it started to move she felt nauseous. "God...d-dammit..." She mumbles.

Donald couldn't help but laugh, feeling as it was some kind of karma for threatening him.

Sora takes a quick glance back at her from the steering wheel. "You feeling okay?" He asks.

"What do you...think?" She mutters, gagging a bit.

"Gawrsh we just left, Salem do you have motion sickness?" Goofy asks, looking at her with concern.

Salem doesn't answer as she holds in the food she had eaten earlier. "Are we...almost there?" She asks.

"We literally JUST left." Donald huffs.

.-.

Riku quickly lands his ship, it was a bit bumpy but at least they were able to get there as safely as they could.

As soon as the ship lands Mickey jumps up and exits the ship, only slowing down so Riku could catch up. "Mickey, you sure Master Yen Sid might have answers?" He asks, opening the door and running inside. Mickey follows after, running up the stairs. "I hope so, Master Yen Sid seems the most likely to know about this." Mickey says, looking troubled and a bit scared. He had done a bit more reading, what he had seen had absolutely terrifying, scarier than many of the Heartless.

Riku nods, then quickly runs up to the door of the old sorcerer's study. He pushes the doors open, they seemed a bit heavier than last time. "Master Yen Sid!" He and Mickey say, running up to the desk.

Yen Sid looks up slowly, looking tired. "Ah, Mickey, RIku. You two seemed troubled." He waves his hand and two chairs appear out of nowhere, seats for the two. "Is everything alright?" He asks as the two quickly sit down, he had seen Riku a small while ago. Giving him a warning and a duty to attend to.

Mickey looks at him. "Master Yen Sid, as you know I've been keeping an eye on the worlds."

The old sorcerer nods.

"Well, I was visiting Twilight Town and I found something. I had gone down to the tunnels and I found this monster..." He shows the old sorcerer the monster in the book. "And well, you see, there were a lot of victims in there. Suffering from blood loss and temporary madness. I was able to save them in time, but I felt pretty ill afterwards." He says, looking up when Yen Sid took the book.

"Do you know anything about what it could be? All we know is that it can cause bloodloss and madness; and that it's called a Winter Lantern." Riku says, looking worried at the concerned look of Yen Sid.

"You did not ingest any blood did you? And none of the citizens?" He asks.

Mickey is about to answer when he looks up. Blood? But he never mentioned any blood...

"Master..."

"Mickey answer the question." Yen SId says in a stern voice.

Mickey tenses up. "Uh...no sir. Why?"

Riku looks between Mickey and Yen Sid before standing up. "Master Yen Sid...you know something don't you?"

The old man nods. "Yes, I had hoped it would not spread here...but it seems they were unable to contain it." He says softly.

The two Keyblade Masters look at each other before looking back to Yen SId. "They who?" They ask in unison.

Yen SId looks up. "The Hunter's of Yharnam...they hunt creatures like the one you encountered Mickey. It seems that they were unable to stop the scourge from spreading." He's silent for a moment before standing up, taking the book with him. He places it on a shelf and grabs another book, bringing to his desk where the other two watch him. "However, we can ask for assistance from Yharnam. Hopefully there are still a few Hunters left." He sighs.

"Hunters?" Mickey asks.

"And what is Yharnam?" Riku asks, a bit frustrated at the lack of answers.

Yen Sid doesn't answer for a moment, flipping through the book and finally placing it down. On the page was a set of bells, intricate designs carved into the 5 bells, 4 large ones and 1 small one.

"Long ago there was this city called Yharnam, a world of it's own. The people of Yharnam had gotten their hands on blood, a special blood that could seem to work miracles. Well, people began to depend on the blood too much, slowly turning into dark creatures of the night. So these creatures would not get out of control there was a special branch of the church that was created to hunt these beasts in private. But soon enoigh, word got out and everybody atrted to become beasts, leaving whatever Hunters there were without secrecy and a special fear of them. A few fell into Beasthood, some died at the hands of other Hunters or beasts. It was a mess...it is obvious that the scourge never ended..."

Riku and Mickey look at each other, then back at Master Yen Sid. "Master Yen Sid if this...thing, has spread then how sure can we be that there are Hunter's still around!" Riku says, not quite understanding.

Mickey nods. "Master, what do you mean we can ask for help! There probably isn't anyone left to get them if it's gotten this bad!" The mouse adds.

Yen Sid looks at them. "Just because it has gotten this bad does not mean there still aren't Hunters around. Yharnam is a rather large city, it can hard to keep such a monster population under control." He takes a deep breath.

"Now, in order to call upon a Hunter, we need a special bell. The Dimensional Beckoning Bell. These were created with the help of many. From the First Hunter, to the Old Keyblade Masters, powerful wizards, to the Grim Reaper himself. Five bells were created. Four to call upon, and one to answer the call. I know the location of three, but the last one is unknown to me. As for the Resonant Bell, it is in Yharnam and we can only hope that someone has it." He sighs.

Riku slams his hands on the table. "Where is the bell! A Hunter is supposed to be able to take care of this stuff right! Do you known where it is?" He asks, scared for the worlds.

"Calm yourself Riku. I am not in possession of the bell, but I believe I know who is." He looks at the two. "Hades...God of the Underworld. I believe he may have it, I remember having to find a place to safeguard the bell. Hades is a very stingy god, he would not give up anything so easily."

Riku doesn't look impressed. "And you expect us to get that from him? Such a seemingly powerful item?" He asks.

Yen Sid nods.

Mickey is equally unimpressed. "You know Master, I will say that you really did not think this through."

Yen Sid growls at the two. "It seemed like a wise choice at the time, now you two must leave. Find the bell and summon a Hunter! Ring it as many times as needed until one appears. You must hurry, before this plague worsens, go!" He says.

The two Masters stand up. "Yes sir!" They say, bowing then running off.

Master Yen Sid waits until he's sure they're out of earshot before burrying his face in his hands.

One of the three fairies comes from the next room.

"I can't believe you lied to them." Flora scolds, putting a cup of tea in front of the old sorcerer.

Yen Sid looks at her. "It wasn't a complete lie, I'm sure I thought it was a good idea at the time." He sighs.

"You were drunk." She crosses her arms. "And you bet the bell with that Underworld fool." She huffs. "You know you can't even play a decent game of cards, and you were playing against Hades!" She hisses.

Yen Sid sighs. "He didn't understand the power of the bell, if anything he must have forgotten about it and must see it as worthless by now. It will be a simple task to accomplish."

Flora shakes her head. "My goodness." She huffs as she walks back to the room where the other two fairies lie, having tea.

He takes a glance at the tea before picking it up and sipping it. The warm beverage relaxing him bit, he stares at the book; worry consuming his mind.

"Why did it spread...how?" He places the ot cup down, staring at the liquid. "Gehrman, did you fall? What about all of your Hunters? Did they too...fall? Was it beasthood or failing to survive?" He closes his eyes, keeping his head down.

"I can only hope that one of you remains." He says, his voice echoing in the empty chamber.

"I can only hope."


	7. Meeting Yen Sid

**I do not own Kingdom Heart or Bloodborne**

 **Enjoy the story!**

 **Meeting Yen Sid**

Sora sighs as he looks up at their destination. It had taken a good while to get there, they had run into a few Gummi Ship Heartless.

Needless to say, Salem suffered silently.

"Why i-is it this bad?" She mutters. "I'm perfectly fine on...elevators..."

Goofy looks at her. "Well we tend to move around a lot in a Gummi ship, and we usually face turbulence. So maybe that's why it's bad for you." He says.

"Or maybe it's just Karma, you know for threatening me and killing all those people." Donald mutters to himself.

"They aren't...ugh...people!" She yells, gagging a bit.

Donald disagreed with her, as did Sora. They had to be people, they were infected with something that turned them into beasts, why couldn't there be a cure?

None of them felt like arguing with her, the moral conflict culd be settled another day.

They sit in silence for a while, thoughts swirling around. The concern of those monsters, the possibility of them turning back to normal, worry for the future of their home, their worlds. Fear for Yharnam, fear of the answer why and how the scourge spread.

They soon came up to a large tower, it seemed like a small island of a world, small and nearly unseen.

"There it is!" Sora announces, looking back at them.

"Thank...god..." Salem mumbles.

They come upon the Mysterious Tower, carefully landing the ship to not damage the ship or the plants around. The last time they crash landed a ship there and ruined one of the gardens the fairies worked on. They were given the scolding of the century, now with that lesson learned they always land there so painfully careful.

Once the ship is landed, they exit. Goofy helps Salem out, putting one arm over his shoulder.

Sora looks at her, a bit surpirsed. She seemed like such a badass, sort of, but was easily taken down by simple motion sickness, "Come on, Master Yen Sid is inside." He says.

Salem takes a deep breath before taking her arm back from Goofy, standing up straight as best as she can. "And this individual is supposed to have answers?" She asks, shaking her head. She was dizzy from the ride, and the blood was being a nuisance again.

"Yeah, hopefully." Sora nods, running towards the tower, Donald and Goofy following behind him.

Salem takes a moment to look at the tower, it seemed impossibly tall...let alone skinny. How could anything fit in there?

She sighs to herself, then starts to run to the entrance, having been left behind. She catches up to the trio in no time, looking around in confusion. The room was pitch black, and long, white stairs wind upwards. At the end of the stairs was a door, large and what looks like stained glass imbedded into it.

The trio groans. "You've gotta be kidding me...he STILL has this design? I don't think any Heartless are likely to attack this place." Sora groans.

"Well, no use in complaining about it, may as well just get to it." Donald huffs, starting to ascend the stairs.

"At least there's nothing here to stand in our way A-hyuck." Goofy chuckles.

"WAH!" Donald was runnig back dow the stairs. "There's something up there and I don't think it's a Heartless!" He quacks.

Salem looks up at the sound of that, pulling the cloth over her mouth and arming herself with her axe; extending it. She runs past them, ignoring their yells for her to stop.

She climbs the stairs for a moment before stopping in her tracks.

Dark pools of shadows mixed with dark blood red appear, some of it dripping off the sides of the stairs. From the pool a large claw appears, it places itself on a solid part of the stairs, pushing itself out of the bloody shadow pool. It looked like a lycanthrope, bit instead of dark, matted fur there are shaodws swirling about it's body, surrounding the creature until a strange symbol appears on it's back. It's eyes turn from an angry red to a piercing yellow glow. It screams as it starts to writhe about, shaking and convulsing. While it screams a sick cracking and crunch is heard, a large lump appearing on it's back, a bit above the malicious symbol. After a moment it's back seems to split open, a pillar of blood appears. Forming into human like figure, long gangly arms, large hands that hold two daggers that are rather concerningly large.

The fleshy, disgusting human-like figure screeches alongside with the lycathrope at a higher pitch. Blood drip off the figure, only the top half of it's body exists. After a moment the two monsters stop screeching.

Sora and company run up the stairs, stopping in horror and disgust. The pool of shadows and blood fades after a moment, leaving them with the grotesque creature to deal with.

The creature groans, seeming to be in pain. The human like part of it looks up, it's skin slightly sagging. Dark red eyes glare at them, observing, looking for a target.

While it gazes at them the wolf half roars and charges towards them, making the human half flail back a bit.

Sora is able to snap out of his shock in time and summons his Keyblade, blocking the jaws that had threatened to tear their innards out.

As soon as the large clang rings out, Salem snaps back to reality moving to the side and striking at the beast.

Salem manages to get a few solid hits in before being swiped back by a large knuckled hand. She yells she lands hard on the stairs, tumbling down a bit before getting back up again.

Sora grunts as he holds the beast back, looking up when two large hands, holding daggers pointed straight at him come down. He isn't able to react fast enough to dodge back, knowing the wolf half would just charge at them again.

He flinches when he hears a loud clang is heard, he looks up and sees Goofy holding his shield above him. They look at each other and nod, they push the beast back with as much force as they can muster. As soon as the beast is knocked back a bit they jump back, waiting for the next attack.

When it looks like the human half is about to raise its hands and bring them down, and the wolf half about to run at them; a large ball of fire flies past them and hits the monster head on. It screeches in pain and looks for the source of it's pain. Donald whimpers when he notices the creature eyeing him.

Before it can attack the duck a large bottle flies across the air, shattering upon impact when it hits the Lycanthrope Anomaly. It screams again.

The three look at where the bottle came from, Salem has another bottle in her hands. "Beasts are usually weak to fire!" She yells, throwing the bottle. It shatters and flames erupt.

After a moment both tortured creatures scream loudly, making those in close proximity, Sora and Goofy, cover their ears in pain. It charges down the stairs, towards the duck and the Hunter.

Donald yells and runs down a bit, near Salem.

She waits for the creature to come closer, hoping and praying she'll be able to time it right.

As it rushes towards them, long thin arms raise up again to bring down the deadly daggers and jaws open to tear them apart. As soon the long arms come down she pulls out her blunderbuss and shoots the chest of the human half. A loud noise is heard, Donald watches her run up to the beast and thrusts her hand in the stunned creature's chest and roughly pulls out its innards. A large amount of blood comes spraying out, covering the stairs and the woman in blood.

The creature falls back, giving them an opportune moment.

Salem starts to swing her axe at the beast, not getting through the tough skin very well.

Sora yells as he jumps down and brings his Keyblade down hard on the head of the human half. He quickly jumps back and uses a Firaga spell before dodging a large arm.

Donald joins Sora in firing a fire spell, then quickly runs away.

Goofy blocks a dagger from impaling him, stumbling back a bit.

Salem steps back a bit, holding the axe out behind her. She waits for a moment before a small chime is heard and a light appears around the edge of her blade as she suddenly brings it down on the werewolf's head.

It growls at her, she smiles as she realizes that she actually did a decent amount of damage. She's about the charge her attack again before being knocked back with a yell.

The monster starts to bang on the stairs, making the fighters lose their balance.

Goofy yells as he falls over, his shield landing on one of the arms. The human half glares the him, and is about to impale him when another cocktail was thrown.

"That was my last one!" Salem yells, hacking away at the werewolf head, occasionally stepping back to avoid a claw swipe or a bite.

Sora looks at Goofy, then at Salem's axe. An idea forming in his mind.

"Goofy! Keep the arm held down! Donald, you and I have to keep firing off magic at this thing-woah!" He almost falls over. He steadies himself before looking at Salem. "Salem! Cut off the arm!" He jumps back from one of the fists.

Donald and Goofy nod in confirmation, a yell is heard as Salem brings the axe down on the head of the werewolf, making the beast go limp for a moment. "Alright!" She yells, running to where Goofy is as he struggles to keep the arm down.

Sora and Donald both use an ether, then start to cast as many fire spells as they can. From Firaga to Fira, even using just simple Fire.

Salem dodges the free arm that tries to knock her over. She gets into her stance, charging her attack. After a moment the white glow appears at the edge of the blade as she brings the axe down with great force. She managed to cut off the arm, making the beast scream in pain. Blood sprays from the wound, covering both her and Goofy. Goofy flinches in disgust.

The beast was worn down, covered in bood and in unimagineable pain.

The last arm was flailing around frantically, trying to do any damage it can. Donald and Salem duck just in time. Goofy kept low, trying to get the last arm. Sora wasn't paying any atention and ended up getting hit back, being knocked back with a yell. He groans as he hits his head on one of the stairs.

"Sora!" Goofy and Donald yell in worry, momentarily distracted before more shaking snaps them back into focus.

Salem looks at the stunned boy then looks at the arm that's about to crush him. It seems the beast lost the dagger. She looks at the two, then dashes towards the boy. watches the arm, knowing she won't make it in time, she throws her weapon as it's about to come down.

Sora watches with blurry vision as a large fist is about to crush him, he can't muster up enough strength to move. As it comes down a large axe is embedded into the wrist. He flinches when a high pitch screech is heared. He watches as a figure leaps up and rips the axe from the wrist, swinging it again to make the grotesque arm back off.

They run off, leaving the dazed boy in mild confusion as he sits up.

"Firaga!" Donald yells as he shoots off another fire attack, wolf half snarl and growl at him, yet flinch in pain.

Goofy yells as he jumps up, using his weight to pin the arm down. "Salem!" He yells, struggling against the limb that desperately flails around.

"Right!" She shouts running up, jumping as she raises her axe. Yelling as she brings it down with as much force as she can. She hears a sicking crunch as the arm is painfully separated from it's owner.

The human half screams, only to be interrupted with an axe to it's neck. It isn't immediately decapitated, the axe is only able to cut halfway through the throat. She pulls the axe out then jumps back as a fire spell is set off again, this time coming from the dazed boy. He barely missed Goofy.

"Got it..." Sora chuckles as he stands up, wobbling a bit.

Salem yells as she swings the axe one more time with all her might. Finally able to decapitate the human.

The wolf screeches on more time before wobbling and falling over. It lets out a weak growl before finally giving up on life. It explodes into a blue mist, a small golden glow left behind where the creature used to be.

Salem takes a deep breath as she takes a moment to relax herself. As she's about to approach the small glow she freezes.

The three watch her in confusion, then see a small red glow come from where the creature flow towards her. She watches the glow, and absorbs it. She huffs, a large amount of Blood Echoes.

"Are those...your Echoes?" Sora asks.

Salem looks at him and nods, she's about to approach the glow again when a dark shadow starts to flow towards her. She watches it, mildly concerned yet curious. It sees to freeze in front of her, out of curiosity she holds out a hand to it.

As soon as she touches it the darkness flows into her, winding up her arm. It disappears after a moment, leaving them confused.

"What was..." Goofy looked concerned.

Donald looked wary of her, not sure how to feel about the newcomer absorbing darkness.

"What did you do?" Sora asks, walking up to her,

"...I believe I may have just found a new kind of Echo...they have the same energy but a different feeling to them. More malice to them, a feeling of desperation..." She takes off the glove on her right hand, looking at it.

They look like tattoos on her pale skin, they swirl around on the canvas of her flesh.

Out of curiosity she rolls up her sleeves, seeing the shadows that had wound up her arm. They too swirled around, but stayed on her arm.

"Woah..." Sora says, walking over to take a closer look. "Do they hurt you?" He asks, watching the shadows climb up her arm, away from the Keybearer.

"No, they feel cold though..." She answers, watching the small shadows.

"I think we have even more of a reason to speak to Master Yen Sid now." Donald says, keeping away from Salem.

"He should be just past this door." Goofy adds, walking up the stairs.

"Thank God." She mutters, pulling her sleeve down and putting the glove back on.

They walk up the stairs in silence, hoping that Master Yen Sid will have the answers they seek.

They soon arrive at the top of the stairs, two large with doors with stained glass imbedded into it. Salem looks at it then at the trio. "This door?"

Goofy nods.

"They are the only doors here." Donald mutters.

Salem shoots him a glare before walking up to the doors. She puts her hands on them, pushing them open slowly.

The heavy doors soon open up, revealing a room with bookshelves full of books and a large desk in the center. To the right of the room are two more large doors made of wood.

At the large desk sits an old man, donned with a long blue robe and a large blue hate decorated with yellow stars. He seems focused on the page of a book.

"Master Yen Sid!" Sora, Donald, and Goofy yell, running past Salem.

The old man looks up. "Sora, Donald, Goofy." He sits up straight. "What seems to be the problem?" He asks, seeing their concerned faces. He looks at Goofy with concern, seeing as he's covered in what looks like blood. He looks past them and sees a strange woman, she too is covered in blood. "And who is this?" He asks.

Salem walks up to the man, making eye contact with him. Once she's at his desk she removes the glove from her left hand, and holds it out.

"I am the Good Hunter, Salem." She says.

Yen Sid watches her for a moment, then stands up. He shakes her hand, looking surprised. "A Hunter?" He asks.

She nods. "Yes, I was summoned by..." She looks at they trio. She tries to remember which one summoned her, one of them had the aura of the bell to them. Which one was it? It was him but what was his name? "Sora." She says, the name clicking, she hadn't quite cared to memorize their names yet.

"Sora, Sora rang the bell." Salem says.

Master Yen Sid stays quiet for a moment, before looking at the trio. "Sora, you have the Dimensional Beckoning Bell? Where did you get it?" He asks.

Sora looks at him, then at his two companions before pulling out the bell. He walks up to the sorcerer and places the valuable artifact on the desk. "We got it after we won a tournament Hades was hosting." He said.

The old sorcerer took the bell and turned it over in his hands, then sighs. "Well...that will be a fruitless visit for them.." He mutters to himself.

"Huh?" Sora tilts his head.

Yen Sid looks at them. "Riku and Mickey visited me a short while ago. They came to me with the concern of something that was found in Twilight Town." He stands up and grabs a book from the shelf behind him, he kept the book Mickey showed him. He quickly flipped to the page before setting the book down. "They found that creature in the tunnels, there were a few victims. Mickey told me they suffered form bloodloss and frenzy." He looks at Sora. "One of the victims was your friend, Hayner."

Sora is frozen for a moment before slamming his hands on the desk. "Hayner? Is he okay?" He asks, worried about his friend, Roxas's friend.

He nods. "Yes, Mickey told me he had gotten there in time to get them help." He looks at Salem. "Have you ever seen this creature before?" He asks.

Salem looks at the illustration of the Winer Lantern, after a moment she shakes her head. "No, but it seems like something that woud appear in Yharnam. I've only gotten as far as Old Yharnam, and the plaza closer to the Great Cathedral, and I haven't seen that creature." She answers. She gives it another glance for a moment.

"I see...tell me Salem. Do you know the whereabouts of Gehrman? And how exactly do you suspect the beasts spread?" He asks.

"Wait a moment..." She grabs the book, looking closer at the illustration. "This creature...it seems to have the same clothing as the doll..."

They all look at her in confusion. "Doll?"

She looks up, nodding. "Yes, in the Hunter's Dream there is a doll that has a task of watching over me in the dream...hosted by Gehrman." She says, looking at the old sorcerer.

"What?" Yen Sid asks.

"The doll channels the Echoes I collect into strength, to...as she said, embolden my sickly spirit." She places the book down. "But I can no longer reach my Dream, as a strange darkness has smothered the light of the lanterns that helps me navigate Yharnam."

Yen Sid looks at her. "What did you say about Gehrman? What exactly do you mean, host of the Dream?" He asks.

"Gehrman...he is the host of the dream. As long as he is there the dream can continue to exist. I would assume he cannot leave because of that..."

Yen Sid sits down. "Gehrman you old fool...what did you do?" He mutters.

Salem looks surprised. "You knew him?" She asks.

Yen Sid nods, and after a moment he sighs. "Yes, but that is a story for another time. You said you cannot reach the dream? You gain strength there with your collected blood correct?" He asks.

Salem nods. "I believe the reason I can no longer reach my haven is due to the two Hunters that attacked me..."

The trio watch them have their conversation, not quite understanding but wanting to. They stay silent.

"You were attacked?" He asks.

She nods, and proceeds to explain what had happened. Her attempt to use the lamp, the chase that had ensued. How she had thrown herself from the ledge once she heard the chime of the bell, and arrived to this place.

Yen Sid stayed silent throughout the explanantion, growing more and more concerned. Once she's done he sighs. "I would say it is safe to assume that the two Hunters that tried to kill you somehow cancelled out the power of the lantern. I would also say it is safe to assume that you are carrying a few too many Blood Echoes within you, am I correct?" He asks.

Salem nods. It was true, it seemed that once she had gotten used to the headaches and annoying pain it seemed to come in a harsher wave. "Do you have any power you can use to do as the doll does?" She asks.

Yen Sid looks down, thinking. "I believe I can, it may prove a bit difficult but I am sure it can be done."

Salem nods and walks up to him.

Yen Sid stands up watching her.

Salem stops in front of him, waiting. They stare at each other as they wait for the other to kneel.

Yen Sid gives her his stern look. "I will not kneel before you young Hunter." He says.

At this point it was a matter of pride, neither wanted their own damaged.

"And I will not kneel to you old sorcerer." She mutters.

Yen Sid chuckles softly. "You do wish for me to convert your Echoes into strength don't you?" He asks, the threat of denying the relief of pain obvious.

The tension in the room keep growing and growing, making the trio a bit scared. Especially Donald and Goofy, they have never seen anyone stand against Yen SId as they have now.

After a moment the tense air fades, and Salem kneels. "Low blow you old coot." She mutters, holding out her hand with a scowl.

Yen Sid puts one hand above her palm, and one below. Not touching the Hunter's hand. A red glow surrounds Salem's hands.

They see the old sorcerer shiver for a moment. He feels the Blood Echoes within her, such malice, the beastly presence within her seems eager to collect more blood. He feels something else wihtin her, darkness. Darkness that gives a drive, he can feel it. A drive for more.

"You absorbed darkness?" He asks.

She nods. "It came form the beast we defeated on the way here..." The shadows slither forward, into her palm.

Yen Sid scowls at the shadows before closing his eyes, focusing again. "What is it you wish use your Echoes on?"

She thinks to herself for a moment. "Strengthen my blood, and grant more Vitailty if you will?"

A moment of silence, she then feels the Echoes drain from her body, but more power courses through her blood, she feels her life force strength.

"You still have quite a few left, not enough to bring you as much strength as you have been given, what do you wish to do with them?"

"...Can you possibly put them into my strength of Arcane? As much as those few can?"

The old master hums before doing as she asked, using the small amount of Echoes. He sighs as he steps away, sitting down. It had taken quite a bit of his energy, he was about to bring up the darkness within her until Sora spoke up.

"Master Yen Sid? What do you think caused the creatures of Yharnam to spread to our worlds? And is there any kind of cure?"

Salem growls in annoyance. "I've told you-"

Yen Sid holds up a hand to stop her, looking at the young man.

"Sora, I am afraid the only cure for the creatures inflicted with this scourge...is death. There is no way to bring them back to their sane, human state. And as for how they came here..." He looks at them all before sighing. "I believe that Xehanort may be responsible for helping these creatures come here..."

"What!" Sora yells. "Xehanort? But what good does bringing those monsters here do?" He asks.

"It seems that by causing chaos here it can buy him time to plan for the future. He knows we've been looking for him." He says.

Sora scowls, then sighs, calming himself. He's been trying not to get too bent out of shape over Xehanort, anger and frustration won't do him any good. He looks at the three, feeling worried. After a moment he looks back to Master Yen Sid. "Is there anything we can do?" He asks.

Yen Sid nods. "Accompany the Hunter to cleanse the worlds of these beasts, find the source, and take it out. And a very important point, do not ingest ANY blood these creatures may spill. Only the Hunter can use this blood, for you...I am afraid you may turn into beasts should you take in too much."

Yen Sid looks at Goofy, noticing he was covered in blood, or rather one side.

"Goofy, did you take in any blood? At all?" He asks.

Goofy shakes his head. "Nope, I didn't drink any. It would have been kind of hard since I was focusing to keep the arm down." He says.

"But why can Salem take in the blood?" Donald asks.

"I've already been infected with it, it won't do much more damage when I use it. I can indeed fall into Beasthood, but I can keep myself under control. I won't end up like Father Gascoigne...I absolutely refuse too..." She mutters, her fists clenching.

They look at her for a moment before Yen Sid speaks up again. "Well, you have been given you assignment. But before you set off, young Hunter. I believe that you should be outfitted with new gear. Your clothing does not give you the best resistance against darkness, nor regular attacks. I am aware that Hunter's skin is a bit thicker than a normal person, but the boost in defense can help."

As Salem is about to object the wooden doors suddenly open and three lights come floating out. A red, blue, and green light. They suddenly come up to Salem, swirling around a bit before floating in front of her, keeping some distance.

"Yes, maybe something similar to what we gave to Sora?"

"No, Hunters have their own customs. They often have flowing clothing, something a bit old-timey compared to what we usually see."

"I think you mean Victorian Era."

"No, that's not it...hmm.."

"I think she would look lovely in pink." The red light turns into a woman with small wings. She waves her wand and the Hunter's clothes turned pink.

"No, make it blue!" The blue light turns into another woman, shorter than the first woman and dressed in blue. She waves her wand and the clothes turn blue.

"I think green might be a better color on her don't you think?" The green light turns into yet another woman, her voice a bit more sweet. She waves her wand and the clothes turn green.

"This again..." Sora says as he rubs the back of his head, he feels a bit bad for the woman. Last time something like this happened he was on the receiving end of it. He understands the frustration and discomfort.

"Blue!"

"Pink!"

"Maybe green!"

"Pink!"

"Blue!"

The color of the clothes changed with each color yelled out, it was starting to get annoying,

"Pink!"

"Blue!"

"Green!"

"Pink!"

"Bl-"

"Enough!" Salem yells, startling the fairies. Her clothes were a mix of blue, pink, and a tinge of green. "If you keep this up I may as well just leave my clothes here and run around in my undergarments until you three can decide on a damn design!" She yells.

The room was silent for a moment.

The fairy dressed in red looks at the other two. "She has a point ladies. We are wasting time, all together now!"

The three wave their wands in synchronization and three lights come form them, rushing towards Salem. There's a sudden flash of blinding light that surrounds the Hunter. After a moment the light dims and clears.

"Woah!" Sora says, amazed at the new design.

"There we go, that looks much better." The green fairy says.

"A lot better." Goofy agrees.

Salem looks at her clothes, first starting with her hands. Her gloves a deep black with strange circles on the plams. Her boots were black as well, the soles a dark gray. There were belts on each boot near the calf where the boots ended. Her coat was a dark red, the back of the large overcoat ended at her feet. On her back there was a large circle, the Hunter's Mark in the center. Conecting to the large circle was four other circles, one in the upper and lower left, and them in the upper and lower right of the circle. The four were empty. Surounding the set of circles were strange intriate designs with was looked like a black and gold thread. She had a three belts on her upper torso, one across her chest, one diagonal form her shouler to her side, above the coat. The last one was across her stomach, on each to the belts was the Hunter's Mark. Her under shirt was a soft gray, the overshirt was a a dark black as well. Her trousers were a dark gray with a light green tinge at the end near the boots. Much to her relief there was still the cloth that could be pulled over her mouth, however much to her surpise there

"This looks nice..." She stretches a bit, testing the mobility. "Feels nice..."

She pulls out her axe and swings it down hard on the floor. "And doesn't get in my way." She smiles, then looks at the three fairies. "Thank you."

"No problem dear, but you should still be wary of the darkness." The red fairy nods.

"Ahem." Yen Sid gets their attention. "I believe it is time for you to go. You must stop the scourge in it's tracks here while you can. Don't let it spread to other worlds. Are we clear?"

Sora and the others nod.

Yen Sid snaps and the doors behind them open. "Now go, and be careful. I hope to see you very soon." He says.

The four nod. "Yes sir!" After three of them bow, they run off. Closing the door behind them, and leaving the residents of the tower in silence.

"Are you sure they can handle this?" Meriweather asks.

The wise sorcerer nods. "They have a Hunter accompanying them...they'll be fine."

As the four descend the stairs, the large pool of shadows and blood appears at the door to Yen Sid's study.

 **A/N Welp I hope you all enjoyed this chapter! Please be sure to leave a review on how you like it, or some constructive criticism. Have a nice day everybody!**


	8. Twilight Town- Start of the Scourge

"So...where should we go first?" Goofy asks, looking at Sora and Donald.

"I dunno, maybe we should just travel around and see whatever world may need help?" Sora says, sighing as he looks at the sky full of stars. They had stopped moving, letting themselves float there where they are.

"What do you think Salem?" Sora asks the Hunter, looking concerned as she shakily stands up.

"Ugh, is there any...any largely populated areas? Any secretive worlds?" She manages, leaning against the wall.

"Uh..." Sora and the others think. "Well, I don't know much about secret areas. But I do know about populated areas. We could go to Hollow Bastion, or the Olympus Colliseum. Maybe Halloween Town..." Sora wonders outloud, in all reality all worlds have people, and little to no worlds have secret areas.

"Well, choose one dammit, we can't just sit here!" She says before gagging, kneeling down.

"Hey! Don't throw up you, we just cleaned out the Gummi Ship!" Donald scolds.

"Alrighty then." Sora grabs the controls of the ship. "Let's go to Halloween Town!" He smiles.

Donald and Goofy buckle in while Salem sits against the wall, staring out the window.

As they fly through the in between of worlds, Salem watches the sky. It is a beautiful sight, stars scattered all about with what should be impossible colors surrounding the clusters. She's was used to the rising and falling sun, the short bits of night. That was temporary, after she had defeated Vicar Amelia and touches the skull, seeing the strange vision, night was neverending. Even with the permanent night, there weren't nearly this many stars in the sky. The moon was her only company, watching over her and all the blood she spilled. The silent judge.

Focusing on the past makes her lose her focus on the present, not feeling as nauseous.

"Hey Salem?" Sora asks, snapping her out of her thoughts.

"You said you're from Yharnam right?" He asks.

"Yes."

Goofy and Donald look at the young man, not sure where he was going with this.

"What's it like?" He asks.

The ship is silent for a moment, making the two animals uncomfortable.

"Massive..." She starts, surprising Sora, he honestly didn't expect her to give much of an answer.

"There's a college in the tangled wood of the Forbidden Forest, after I reached the Grand Cathedral I was going towards a forested area. Until I decided to go down a path I hadn't gone down yet. Towards an old church, I met a strange person there..." She thinks, trying to remember her name. "Alfred...he told me of the Byrgenwerth College. I was going to seek the college until I found a passage underneath a tomb. Old Yharnam..."

Donald and Goofy look at her, she seems lost in thought. he actually looks peaceful for once.

"Old Yharnam?" Sora asks. "But...you were in Yharnam."

She quiet for a moment before shaking her head.

"True but, mistakes were made the the old city was burned. And the Yharnam that everyone knows of was built on top of it, the only residents of that place now are two Hunters that detest the presence of other Hunters, and a horrible beast in the church below..."

Donald rolls his eyes. "You people have a lot of churches." He mutters.

Salem can't help but chuckle. "True...we do. We really do." She leans back a bit as the nausea returns.

The ship is quiet once more, no one is sure what to talk about. The awkward atmosphere is overwhelming.

The ship shakes for a moment, startling the group. It stops after a moment, then starts again,

"Sora quit messing around!" Donald says, aggravated.

"It isn't me!" He says, trying to steady the ship. "It's...what the!" Sora yells when he looks out the front window.

They looked like spheres, dark orbs came from them. They floated in front of their source before shooting off in different directions. Some of the orbs hit the ship and make it shake violently.

"Gwarsh what are those supposed to be?' Goofy says, equally alarmed.

"I have no idea!"

The orbs continue to blast off in various directions, quite a few shooting towards the world in view, Twilight Town.

"Sora..."

"Looks like Halloween Town has to wait, we have to see what this is all about!" Sora says, quickly steering the ship towards the world.

Donald and Goofy look at each other. "What do you think it is?" Donald asks.

"...I honestly hope it's just Heartless." Sora says.

They speed towards the world, dodging the flying orbs.

Salem grunts as the ship shakes once more. "What's going on!" She yells.

"Hold on!" Sora yells, diving through a small wall of the dark orbs.

As soon as they hit the wall, an alarm starts to go off.

"Sora!" Donald yells. "I don't think the ship can take that much more! Why don't you just shoot at the orbs?"

"The guns won't work, I've already tried! We're almost there we just have to land." Sora says, focusing on the landing spot. He huffs as he steadies the roughed up ship, before it gives out and falls the short distance to the ground.

Donald runs out to look at the area, Sora and Goofy help Salem.

Salem looks around as she regains her senses. "What is this place?" She asks as she stands up her own, pushing the two away.

"This is Twilight Town., we landed at the Train Station." Sora answers, pulling out his Keyblade. "There were dark orbs that appeared in the road to the world, and they were going everywhere. Some of them were coming here."

"I saw a few of them from outside the window, and no I don't think its something form Yharnam." She says before the young Keyblade Wielder could ask.

"Okay, so maybe they're Heartless." Sora says.

"Or maybe they're like the think we faced in the tower." Goofy says, a bit unsettled at the memory. "It looked like a Heartless, but maybe something from Yharnam? With all that blood?"

Salem nods. "There's a possibility the beasts combined. But that isn't our focus right now." She pulls the cloth over her mouth and the hood over her head. She looks at them. "Heartless they are called correct?" She asks.

Sora nods. "Yeah, and the Keyblade is the only thing that can get rid of them permanently."

"Alright." She looks down, thinking.

The three look at her, not understanding her pause.

"We should split up. Try to find civilians and find them a safe haven. If there is a church, guide them there. If not, then look for another place. A clinic, a large warehouse, somewhere where it seems the beasts cannot reach."

Sora and the others look at her. "They're Heartless Salem, I'm sure that people are aready hiding." Sora says.

Salem looks at him for a moment then sighs. "Right." She thinks of the Temple Keeper, his request to guide people to the safe haven. She repected that request and fufilled it as best as she could. "We should still split up, cover as much ground as we can."

"...Alright. Be careful." Sora says, nodding at her then running off. He exits the train station then looks around.

"Do you think she'll be alright on her own?" Goofy asks as he follows Sora, stopping with him as the young man stops in front of the split path. Down the road or into the tunnels.

Sora looks at him. "She's been on her own for a while. And as much as I'd like to join her, I have a feeling we might get in her way."

"Are you serious. That's kind weird for you Sora. Usually you would insist that she keeps close with us. You'd usually wanna see how she fights, and get to know her better." Donald says, following him as he walks to the tunnels.

Sora looks at them. "Salem seems better on her own, I won't lie it was awesome when we fought together against that thing but...I have a feeling she's more used to being on her own. I don't think she's comfortable being around others."

"Well, you can't blame her. From what she tells us, everything just tries to kill her." Goofy says. "And other Hunters, people like her, all try to end her life." He fiddles with his shield a bit.

"Yeah, I guess." Sora sighs. "You know...I really wonder how she's able to do it all on her own. She doesn't have any kind of help from anyone..."

Donald and Goofy look at each other then at Sora.

"She must be pretty strong huh?" Sora says.

The two sigh.

"Well you're strong too Sora." Goofy says, looking around at the tunnels, his voice echoes.

"Yeah, you took Xehanort out twice!" Donald says, trying to encourage him.

Sora sighs. "Yeah but I had you guys. If I didn't have you the I probably would have died, even on the Mark of Mastery Exam I had help. I had my Spirits, I couldn't do anything on my own. I tried to fight all of Nightmares without help but..." He looks down.

Donald and Goofy pat Sora's back, trying to make him feel better, not sure what words could help. What words could break his confidence further or bring it back up?

"Well, you two are in different situations. She probably didn't have anyone to help her, and had plenty of guidance from your friends." Goofy says.

Sora sighs, then looks up. "Yeah...different situations, different strengths."

As soon as he said that a few Heartless appear around them. A lot of shadows, a few Wyverns, and Large Bodies.

"You two ready?" Sora asks, watching the Heartless. A burst of confidence filling him.

"You betcha." Goofy says.

"Let's do this." Donald says.

All the Heartless charge towards them.

The young woman pants as she runs through the streets, slaying a few ant-like shadow creatures on the way. She sees a split path, one that seems to go down into a shopping district and another that seems to just lead into a few alleyways. Perhaps connecting to the tunnels Sora and the others went into.

She looks between the two path before heading straight, to the shop area. She passes by a stall that's all boarded up, a cowering woman can be seen between a few of the boards.

She slowly walks over, seeing another way to go past the shop. "Excuse me?" She asks, knocking on the boards a bit.

"W-Who are you!" A scared voice yells.

"I am Salem, the Good Hunter." She answers. "Have you seen anything strange around here ma'am? Not just Heartless, but human like creatures? Werewolves? Ogres?" She asks, creeping a bit closer to the boarded up window.

"What does it matter to you! They're all monsters! What what is a Hunter even supposed to do?" She asks, she's clearly terrified.

"As a Hunter I am supposed to hunt down these monsters, clear them out." She answers.

Silence.

"Then why don't you go out and hunt these monsters!" The woman yells, banging on the two-by-fours. "If it is your job why are you just sitting around? Go out and clear out the town!"

Salem stays quiet, silently scowling under the hood. Just like Yharnam, people screaming at her to do her job. Lack of information, the only thing they want is either cleared out streets or a safe haven.

"Fine." She mutters. Walking off, in the direction of the path she saw past the shop. She lengthens her axe before walking into the next area, moving carefully. She walks on to an open area, there's a board off to the side. A few names messily scribbled on there, it looked like competition. A few of the names were crossed out and lines made to other names. Brackets.

She looks around, the silence a bit unnerving. In Yharnam she could at least hear the muttering of the madmen or the occasional groan. The chime of a bell, the crackling of flames.

"Hurry, we gotta get out of here!" A voice yells, sounding panicked and scared.

"But where can we go?"

Two people come running into the area, two dogs, a few shadows, and angry townspeople.

One of the figures was a young woman, a yellow shirt and messy brown hair. Behind her was someone of a more stout build, his hair held up by a headband. He was wearing pants, and a baggy shirt with some kind of logo on it.

She quickly shorts her axe and runs forward, shooting the blunderbuss and stunning the two dogs.

"You!" One of the townspeople yells, charging towards her with the hatchet while the dogs bark at her.

She shoots off the blunderbuss again and starts to strike at the madman, jumping back once he falls to he ground. She lengthens her axe and charges the attack, spinning around twice an knocking back the dogs and the shadows. She hears one dog whimper and a small thud. The shadows disappear in a puff of black smoke.

"Olette, who is that?" The young man asks, still somewhat backing away from the fight.

"Why would I know Pence?" She asks, watching the woman strike down the humanlike creatures and a few more of the reappearing shadows.

"Maybe a friend of Sora's?" Pence asks, flinching when the woman takes a few strikes from a small meatcleaver and a few bites from the remaining dog.

The watch as she gradually puts them down, without mercy.

They watch, frozen in terror as the woman injects something into her leg. Her wounds start to disappear.

"I hate the dogs..." She mutters, fixing up the items on her belt.

The two scared teens look at each other then at the woman. The young man watches his friend approach their blood-covered savior.

"U-Um, excuse me?" She nervously asks, keeping a reasonable distance from her.

Salem looks up, seeing the scared young lady. "Ah, You're still here. I thought you would have run off." She says, taking off her hood, and the cloth that covers her mouth.

Once she shows her face the two relax a bit, seeing that she's not a monster. Yet those crimson eyes hat seemed to pierce whatever they had laid upon were still somewhat frightening.

"What are you two doing out here? Why aren't you inside, or in a safe haven?" She asks as she puts the blunderbuss in it's holster.

"We were in a safe place, our hideout..." Olette says, referring to the place with the small metal fence and the torn up couch. Decorated with a few empty barrels and a dart board. "But we forgot the lock we needed, and we were trying to run to my house to hide there. But, I have a feeling that there are going to be too many monsters in my part of the neighborhood." She says, rubbibg her arm and keepin her head down.

"And what about his house?" Salem asks, gesturing to the girl's friend. Seeing him shiver a bit.

"He lives nextdoor to me. Same neighborhood." She answers.

They watch as she goes quiet, thinking something over.

 _'He said it's not like Yharnam, where most people would seek after a safe haven from the night. But these two don't have anywhere else to go and I would like to keep my blood vials...'_ She thinks to herself.

After a moment or two thinking over a few possibilities she looks at the two, putting away her axe and holding out a hand. "I am Salem. the Good Hunter." She says. She watches the two look at each other, then back at her.

Olette gingerly holds out her hand. Shaking her hand softly.

"I'm Olette, and this is my friend, Pence." She says.

"Hello." He says nervously.

Salem takes her hand back and nods. "Alright, now. Is there any other place you could go? Is there a church? Maybe a clinic or a safe house?" She asks, looking around when she thought she could hear footsteps.

"This town doesn't really have a chruch, but we have a doctors office." Pence says, shrugging his shoulders. "Then there's the abandoned mansion in the forest." He adds, looking at her.

"Oh my gosh Hayner! He's at the clinic! He's was still sick remember?" Olette says, remembering their friend who was found in the tunnels, alongside a few others.

"Oh no! Do you think he'll be okay?" He asks, fidgeting nervously.

"One way to find out." Salem says, putting the good back over her head and covering the bottom half of her face once more. "Come on, tell me where the clinic is and I'll get you there as safely." She says, taking out her axe and gun.

"Are you sure?" Pence asks.

They smile when she nods. A promise she'll get them there.

"The clinic is this way!" Olette says, pointing in the direction. Letting Salem lead the way.

"T-This is ridiculous..." Sora mutters, hiding behind a wall. There was a strange monster that appeared around the corner after they dealt with all of the Heartless. It had the body of a woman, and a giant, disgusting brain like thing for a head. It ws covered in eyes and it could be seen moving around in disgusting ways. The humming sound it made was maddening.

Sora rubs his temples, groaning a bit. When that thing had seen him he felt something wrong, his head was killing him now and that thing seemed to walk ever closer.

"We have to get rid of that thing." Donald mutters.

"Maybe we can use my shield to block us from seeing it?" Goofy throws the idea out.

The two shake their heads.

"No, it seems that when it sees US that the trouble will start. When it has it's back turned we should charge. Get rid of it as quickly as we can." Sora says.

"I can shoot a few spells to distract it." Donald says, holding up his wand.

"And Sora and I can take it out, or at least I can give you a bit of cover..." Goofy says.

Sora takes a shakey sigh and looks at the two, waiting for their readiness and confidence in their quick plan. He smiles when they nod.

"Okay, let's get this over with." Sora says, peeking around the wall. The creature is walking away from them, probably about to turn the corner then come back around.

"Let's go!" He says, summoning his Keyblade and running towards the creature

Goofy follows him, drawing the attention of the creature, as soon as it looks at him he starts to feel dizzy and sick. But he ignores that and runs alongside Sora, throwing his shield at the thing. It hits the grossly enlarged head and bounces off back to Goofy, giving Sora the chance to slice the creature in half.

They hear a scream of pain and watch it fall over. A heap of harmless limbs.

Donald walks to the two, he didn't have time to fire off a single spell. "Are you two all right?" He asks, casting cure on the two.

Sora huffs as he sits down, trying to calm himself down. It felt like he was in a panic, so much he might accidentally hurt himself. "Whatever that thing was, it's dead now." He huffs.

"Maybe we should go back onto the surface and see if there's anything there." Donald says

"Yeah, maybe." The Keyblade weilder sighs, looking around. "You think Salem is alright?" He asks.

"She's probably fine, she can handle a few monsters." Donald rolls his eyes.

"But what about the Heartless? Those things would probably just keep coming after her." Goofy adds in. "She doesn't have a Keyblade that can get rid of those things for good."

"She's probably doing her best. Come on, we should head back up." Sora stands up, feeling a bit better. He runs off towards where the next exit is.


	9. A Confrontation

**Disclaimer: I do not own Bloodborne/ Kingdom Hearts. If I did we'd have a Bloodborne 2 and KH 3 would already be out**.

 **Okay, so a few things I kinda of want to address real quick. Someone had pointed out that Sora is pretty powerful, able to cut through skyscrapers and beat the shit out of Heartless and Nobodies. So he should have easily taken down the Behemoth and Cathedral Giants tight? But, seeing as it's taking place after 3D Sora had all of his strength stripped away by Xehanort, as said from the secret 2.8 ending. (Don't know why it's considered secret ending, isn't it in every mode? I dunno, I digress. But still please correct me if I'm wrong.) Another thing mentioned was that it seemed that Sora was a wimp, reacting to blood the way he did. But considering that we don't really see BLOOD in Kingdom Hearts, and the enemies vanish when they die and when fighting humans like Cloud or Leon you don't really kill them so much as knock them out. And yeah Sora killed Malificent but then she just bursted into flames and left behind ash. With the amount of blood that comes from the enemies in Bloodborne would be surprising to an outsider who's not used to it, like Sora.**

 **If y'all have any more questions or concerns you wanna bring up go ahead a bring them up in the comments or PM me.**

 **Eeeeehhhh that's enough blabbering from me enjoy the story!**

 **\--Bloodborne x Kingdom Hearts--**

Chapter 9- A Confrontation

"Are you sure the clinic is this way?" The tired hunter asks she brings the axe down on one of the small shadows. The ant-like shadows won't leave them be, it's starting to become a nuisance. Especially with more dangerous beasts to greet them.

"Yeah, it's just up ahead." Olette answers, peeking around a corner.

Pence looks fearfully at the woman. "So, you get rid of these monsters? Where did they come from?" He asks, following their axe weilding protector.

She glances at him before looking back forward. "These monsters used to be people." She starts, earning shocked looks from both of the teenagers.

"They imbibed in blood, miraculous blood that could cure any illness, any injury. It was distributed by the Healing Church, and seemed like the perfect medicine, until the beasthood started. Everyone began to turn into horrible beasts, tearing up the town. But there was a branch of said Healing Church that was dedicated to ridding the town of these horrible creatures...Hunters." She tells them, guiding them around a large mob that gathered about a fire.

"And you're a Hunter?" Olette asks.

"Correct."

"Were you there when it all started?" Pence questions, watching the area around them for any strange monsters.

"No, it had already gotten pretty bad by the time I got there...and I'm not from Yharnam." She mutters, suddenly running to kill an approching mad townsman. "I'm an outsider as they call it..." She adds once the children catch up to her.

"What do you mean- oh no." Pence had started, paling when they saw the clinic. In front of the clinic there was a large wolf like creature trying to bash down the door, accompanied by larger shadows.

"Hayner!" Olette says, about to run forward until she's grabbed by Salem.

"No, that's a Lycanthrope!" She hisses, looking at the group of beasts. She stands there for a minute before looking at her two companions. "I'm going to lure them away, and have to run inside as quickly as you can. Barricade the door, and make sure everyone inside is alright." She pulls out her bunderbuss. "I'll let you know once I've cleared out the area." She has a feral smile under the cloth that hides the bottom half of her face.

The two nod and watch her run off, throwing what looked like a pebble at the Lycanthrope. Once the stone shatters the beast growls at her, only to be shot by her gun. It then roars in rage and starts to chase her, the shadows follow them, close on the Hunter's heels.

Once they're out of sight the two terrified teenagers run to the door of the Clinic and hurriedly enter. Pence slams the door shut and locks it, thinking it was foolosh not to have it locked in the first place. "Hayner?" Olette goes further into the clinic, yelling for her friend.

"Olette?" A familiar voice asks from a room. She enters and sees her friend, still pale and sickly looking. "Olette what's going on?" He asks, sitting up.

"There are monsters outside! Not Heartless but...terrifying monsters!" She answers, starting to cry. She had held it in, not wanting to draw the interests of the unnoticing beasts while they were in the streets

"Olette! Help me barricade the door!" Pence calls from the small lobby.

"Hayner where's the doctor?" Olette asks as she starts to exit the room.

"He went out to get help, the nurse had gone with him too."

Olette pales, only to be called by her other friend. "I'll be right back." She assures, leaving the room.

It was thrill, a high she hated to enjoy. It only seemed to occur when killing a large group of monsters. While running away she had drawn the attention of a few more beasts. She stops running, ending up in a shopping district. She turns to the beasts that rush towards her.

She quickly extends the axe before leeting out a yell, swinging the axe as hard as she could. She smiles as she feels blood splatter on her, hearing the cry of the mad townsman. She quickly dodges to the side as the lycanthrope and a few dogs try to tackle her. She rushes forward and cuts down a few more men, relishing in their death cries. She hacks away at them all, letting them all fall into heaps of dead limbs.

She chuckles to herself until she falls to the ground, tackled by the lycathrope that proceeds to claw at her and works to tear her apart. It's only stopped when she manages to get her gun and shoots it in the face. She huffs as she gains some distance before using two blood vials. When she looks up the lycanthrope and shadows chrage at her at terrifying speeds.

Salem extends her axe, bringing it back. She keeps it there for a moment before spinning around twice, catching all of them with both strikes. The shadows disappear and the beast gets knocked back. She shortens her axe as she charges at the stunned beast, bringing the axe down with great force; making her prey fall down once more. She begins to hack away, feeling a bit of rage at the harm it had caused her.

Long past it's death she continues to hack away at the beast. Feeling an inexplicable euphoria with the splattered blood and the sound of flesh coming apart. The entire area is silent, save for her panting and silent chuckles. She's about to bring her axe down once more when she sees something out of the corner of her eye. She freezes, lowering her axe and walking towards what she had seen. She stops when she realizes what it is.

"Oh...I'm sorry." She says quietly, kneeling before the two mangled corpses. The larger one had a bloodied and ripped up white coat, a doctor. And in his arms, a smaller figure, a woman. They were brutally killed by the beasts.

When she hears the chime of a bell she stands up, looking towards the sky. The sun had gone down, and the sky turned dark. "No time to weep for the dead, we must first make it through this night." She says softly. She turns around and starts to walk away, heading back to the clinic to let them know she was alright.

"Hey!" A voice calls.

Salem looks in the direction of the commotion. Four people are running towards her, a young man with a black beanie, a sleeveless white overcoat with baggy pants somewhat tucked into his shoes, as well as a blue shirt that shows his midriff.

The young man is accompanied with a female with white hair, khaki shorts and a blue sleeveless turtleneck. Behind her is another young man with a red muscleshirt and black baggy pants. A silver chain with a bolt of lightning hangs around his neck. He has a small figure on his back, they wear a large, and strange beige hat. Their face isn't visible save for two yellow dots.

"Just who do you t-think you are?" The young man who called out huffs, panting. He was a little bit taller than Salem, but she had more of an intimidating air.

"I am a hunter, I am supposed to clear the streets of all monsters. End the hunt." She answers, tightening her grip on the axe. She mentally groans, expecting a hard time from this teenager.

"And what are these things supposed to be y'know?" The other young man asks, looking a bit suspicious of the stranger.

"Beasts from my world, now I advise you to go inside. Barricade the doors and burn incense if you have any. There's a clinic that way, there are a few people in there. I can accompany you there if you wish."

"You probably did this! You seem to be the only one who knows how to deal with these things!" The beanie wearing young man says, crossing his arms. "And look at your clothes, looks like something those things would wear."

"Just get inside dammit and...hold on. None of you ingested any blood those things spilled have you?" She asks, her right hand twitching a bit.

"Ew no. That's just gross y'know?" The other young man states.

"Unsanitary." The girl adds.

"Alright...so you don't have the infection. I still advise you to go inside. Go to the clinic." She points in the direction where she came from.

"Why? Is that a safe place?" The small figure asks. They all look at her, waiting for a response.

She nods. "Yes, I guided two people there earlier to stay with their ill friend. I've instructed them to barricade the door, I'll accompany you there so they know it's a safe group. And since I promised I'd let them know when I killed the beasts trying to break into the place." She starts to walk away, expecting the four to follow. And of course, they did. They walk freely to the clinic, she had slain all the monsters in that area.

As they walk the moon rises, higher and higher. The pale glow helping to illuminate their path.

"So, why the clinic? Isn't there any other safe place?" The young man who seems like the leader asks.

"No, none that I know of. Unless you know of a church or somewhere sacred you all can rest."

They all shake their head.

"Why a church?" The young woman asks.

"Because churches, cathedrals, are usually places that burn incense. Incense keeps the beasts away, and they seem to always stay outside of the area." She asnwers, leading them to a door. She knocked on it twice, waiting for a response.

"Who is it?" A scared voice answers.

"Don't tell me..." The leader mutters.

"It's Salem, and I brought a few others in need of a safe place." She answers. She waits for a moment before chuckling to herself, hearing the frantic disassembly of the barricade. The door opens, revealing Olette and Pence.

"You're back...aaaaand you're covered in blood." Pence says, stepping away. He was about to hug her in relief, glad he didn't afterwards. She doesn't seem to be the hugging type.

"These punks are the ones you guided here?"

Pence looks past Salem to see the group of four.

"Seifer? What are you and your gang doing here?" He asks, seeming a bit upset.

"Safe place." The young woman says.

"Yeah, the freaky lady brought us here, told us this is a safe place. I wouldn't have agreed to come here if I knew you punks were here!" Seifer raises his voice.

"Shut up!" Salem yells, silencing them. "This is a safe place, unless you want to die you will overcome your petty squabbles and just deal with each other until sunrise." She looks at Olette and Pence. "You two, you are in charge while you all are here. See you if you can find any incense to burn, it'll keep the beasts away." She sighs.

"What? Why them?" Seifer asks.

"Just shut up and get inside, I have a job to do." She snaps at him, not liking his tone.

"You're not the boss of us, I'm pretty sure you can't be that much older than us anyway!"

"And which one of us has dealt with this mess before. Also," She raises her axe. "Which one of us has a deadly weapon in their hands?"

They stare at each other for a moment before Seifer turns to go inside, her intimidation working.

She watches them file inside before addressing Pence and Olette again. "Barricade the door, be careful. Lock the windows, and keep the lights off. Try not to make too much noise, and don't come out until the sun rises understand?" She asks.

They nod, closing the door. She hears a click of a lock and the bustling around of items being stacked. Soon afterwards the lights in the window go out, and the blinds are drawn.

She sighs before walking away, getting a bit of distance before leaning against the wall and sitting down onto the ground. She pulls off her glove, seeing almost the entirety of her hand is black. The darkness she's absorbed swirls around, if she focuses she can feel the shadows on her back; having passed her arm. She can also feel something from them, a hunger. A want to destroy and consume everything, a want for more darkness. That's only one of the wants she can feel herself nearly fall to, but at least one she can control.

She puts the glove back on and puts her head down for a moment, letting herself regain a bit of energy.

" _You must keep focus, don't let yourself fall into beasthood. Be careful, you don't want to end up like Gascoigne. You want to make it to sunrise..._ "

She repeats the thoughts to herself before getting up.

She looks around before looking around. The young man named Pence mentioned something about an abandoned mansion. It sounds like a place worth checking out, even the most seemingly useless information can be used. Perhaps there's something in there.

She thinks for a moment before walking off, figuring she'll find it one way or another.

.-.

"Woah..." Sora looks around, seeing the bodies of monsters. There are a few Pureblood Heartless walking around where the bodies were.

"I think I know who did this..." Donald shakes his head.

"Obviously." Sora mutters.

They keep walking, stepping around the corpses until they hear yelling and grunting. Up ahead they see two figures, one using magic against a giant pig and he other is assissting his friend, but had gotten knocked by by a swipe of the head.

"Dammit!"

Sora summons his Keyblade. "Come on!" He says to the other two, running off towards the fighting pair.

Goofy and Donald follow, pulling out their respective weapons.

The magic user shoots what looks like a sphere of small lights towards the pig.

It's hit head on, and stunned for a moment. The hooded magic user backs up a bit, injecting something into his leg.

Sora runs up with a yell, bringing his Keyblade down on the side of the giant animal, he looks up. Seeing his didn't do that much damage he jumps back. "What the..."

The skin was thick, and tough. It felt hard to cut through, let along do much blunt damage.

He backs up a bit more when the pig gets up and roars at him, it then spews a poison cloud.

He duck past the purple fog and sees the man who got knocked down was back up again and was hacking away at the pig from behind. He saw the weapon, it looked like a saw connected to a large stick. It cut through the pig like nothing.

"Sora move!" Donald yells.

Sora jumps back to see a large fireball head towards the pig. It screams and turns towards them, only to again be distracted by the man hacking away at it, then again by the magic user.

Sora and Goofy would occasionally jump in and hack away at the pig, both a bit frustrated that it looked like they did little to no damage.

The hooded figure growls after he dashes out of the way, a black aura surrounding his hands.

Sora and Goofy saw this, moving out of the way and backing up.

"Sora..."

"Don't tell me that..." The young man says softly, hoping his suspicions aren't true.

The other figure noticed and backed up, as soon as he was in the clear a pool of shadows appears underneath the pig. After a moment a large column of darkness rips through the giant pig, all that could be heard were the painful squeals of the pig.

Once the shadow's clear out there was nohing but a little bit of blood, and a few small items where the pig used to be.

"You know you should give me a warning a bit ealier when you plan on doing that. I don't dream anymore." The melee fighting man says, picking up the items. He throws two vials at his friend who catches them. Shrugging a bit at the request for a sooner warning.

"Sora look." Goofy says softly. "Their clothes look similar to Salem's don't they?" He asks quietly.

"You think those are the two mad hunters that went after her?" Donald asks, watching the two strangers organize their items while one talks to the other, silent one.

"Maybe they're not, maybe there are other hunters. Who's to say that she's seen all of them? What if Yharnam fell to darkness and these two just ended up here?" Sora says, trying to give them the benefit of the doubt. Hoping that the use of shadows was just a type of magic that could be used in the city Salem told them about.

"Sora, what if they can use darkness bcause of Xehanort?"

Sora shakes his head. "I don't know...I hope not..."

The two Hunter's were about to walk away until the taller one stops, looking towards the group of three. "You." He says, grabbing the attention of the trio. They walk to them, assessing them.

"You three should be insde, there's a hunt on tonight."

The hooded one nods.

"We can handle ourselves, we've dealt with worse." Sora says, he's pretty sure Xehanort could be considered worse.

"A child shouldn't be out on the streets, leave the beasts to the Hunters boy."

Sora gives him a look before looking at the hooded man. "Your magic, is it something that's practiced where your from?" He asks, his hand twitching a bit.

"The arcane of our city revolves more around cosmic origins. You could say that this form of darkness is a bit foreign" The other one answers. "Why so curious? And didn't I tell you to go inside?" He asks, a bit irritated at the disobedience.

Sora meets the man's gaze, not sure how to take the information. "You...didn't get it from someone? Nobody taught you how to use it? Or just...GAVE you this darkness?" He asks.

A few shadows appear from the hooded man's body, creeping up slowly.

"You seem pretty nosy, especially about this subject..." His left hand twitches a bit.

Before Sora could answer, the shadows that had silently appeared jumped at Sora.

Out of instinct he summoned his Keyblade, swiping at the Heartless and banishing them. He jumps back a bit, watching them warily.

The man jumped back. "Another Keyblade Wielder, he must be one of the ones the old man told us to watch out for." He says, his weapon clicking, sparks going off as it quickly unfolds.

"Looks like these ARE those two Salem was taking about." Sora mutters, readying himself. Donald and Goofy are right behind him, wary of the two Hunters. They'd seen what Salem could do, they could only wonder what these two could do, considering they nearly killed they skilled Hunter they know. And the mention of the old man, it HAS to be Xehanort.

As the two are about to charge at the trio until something came flying from behind the two. The hooded man grunted and stumbled forward, he growls as he turns around to see who had thrown the knife, only to take a few bullets to the face.

Salem came seemingly from nowhere, swiping at the hooded man.

"You!" The other Hunter yells, moving towards her and bringing the saw cleaver down.

Salem dodges, moving back and shooting off the blunderbuss again.

After a moment of watching, Sora jumped in to help taking on the melee fighter with Salem while Donald and Goofy took on the arcane user.

"You should have just let me kill you when you had the chance!" He yells, his saw cleaver being blocked by an axe.

"Oh? Now why would I have done that?" She asks, pushing the man off of him and kicking him. Sora takes the opportune moment to smack the man across the head with his Keyblade, stunning him and making him fall over for a moment.

Salem brought the axe down, cutting into the man's shoulder, blood spurting and a cry of pain heard.

"You bitch!" He yells, managing to get to his feet. He grabs the handle of the axe and rips it out, the weapon clattering onto the ground. The wound in his shoulder begins to heal, no blood vials even used.

Salem takes a step back, pulling out the small blades. She had found them, when she had gone to visit Eileen after their first interaction she hadn't been able to find her again. Instead what she had found were broken barrels, a few bloostains, and the blades. She had assumed they belonged to her and decided to hang onto them, incase she saw the old crow again.

She splits them apart, one sharp blade in each hand.

Sora runs around to join her side. "He can..."

"Yes, regenerate. And before you ask, no I can't do that. I don't even know-"

She was cut off with a sudden gunshot to her gut. She coughs and jumps back out of instinct.

"It's Hunters like you, you...Dreamers, I like to call you..." The man glares at her. She takes a step back, Sora watches.

"You Dreamers don't realize what you're doing. You don't realize what monster you're aiding with the blood you give, thinking you're ending the hunt. You're not, you're an idiot to think that."

Salem growls at the insult, not sure where he was going. "What are you talking about?"

"You're a monster! That's what!" He yells. His hand brushes over his weapon, a dark aura surrounding it, making it erupt into black flames. "And it's monsters like you that need to be killed Dreamer."

Salem looks to where Donald and Goofy are, holding their own pretty well against the other hunter.

"Sora, go help them. This is my fight." She says, bracing herself.

"No way, this guy works with Xehanort. And that means he's a threat to all the worlds, and my friends." He looks at Salem.

Salem sighs, figuring a little help might be nice. She looks at the man. "Tell me hunter, what is your name?"

He chuckles. "Ebon, Former Apprentice of Gehrman."

"Salem, The Good Hunter."

"While we're all getting to know each other, I'm Sora, the Chosen Keyblade Wielder." He grins.

"And enemy of Xehanort..." Ebon chuckles. "Killing two birds with one stone I like it!" He yells as he runs towards Salem who quicksteps to the side and slashes him with the blades. Ducking past and retrieving her axe, eqiuping the more comfortable, familiar weapon.

Sora runs towards him with a yell throwing his Keyblade at him, performing Strike Raid. Ebon manages to dodge the first strike, only to hit struck again from behind. The young man grins as he catches his Keyblade, gasping when the saw cleaver threatened to kill him, he blocks the attack and puts in a few strikes before backing away. He figures he only had so much stamina and time before Ebon recovers from the block.

Ebon is assaulted again from behind, two strikes in his back. Only to be interrupted by a gunshot, stunning the woman.

Ebon was about to strike at her before taking a small fireball to the back. He growls and turns to Sora, shooting him in the side.

The young man flinches a bit and stumbles back, the pistol had packed a punch. He felt the bullet lodged into his side.

While momentarily distracted Salem takes a moment to heal herself, then throws another knife at Ebon. Feeling a bit of frustration when he dodges and it lodges into the ground.

Ebon jumps back a bit, letting his wounds finish healing. He stands and watches the two, seeming to stab himself after a moment, loading five bullets into his pistol. After that he stays still

Salem stays where she is, knowing what he's doing. She's done it too, but the monsters before were stupid and all she had to do is wait. She wasn't going to make that mistake.

Sora saw it as an opportune moment to strike, figuring he was waiting for a challenger. And if they didn't finish it his friend might be able to assist him, and considering his ability to regenerate and the arcane user's long range that wouldn't be good.

Donald and Goofy were actually holding their own pretty well, but both sides seem to be running low on energy.

Sora rushes forward, yelling and raising his Keyblade.

"Sora no!" Salem yells rushing forward to grab the boy.

He's about to bring the weapon down until a gunshot rings out. He feels what's like a punch to the chest, stunned he falls to his knees. He can't move, he doesn't know why. Everything feels still for a moment, so slow. He can't breathe, he can only watch the man raise his weapon with a big grin on his scarred face. He tries to will himself to move, he can only feeling himself twitching. He hears a loud noise from behind, was that Salem?

Pounding footsteps and yelling. He silently prays for her to hurry, to-

Not fast enough


	10. The Source, PT 1

**Disclaimer: I do not own Bloodborne or Kingdom Hearts**

Everything had happened so quickly, yet so slow.

He had been able to regain some of his senses, just enough to jerk back a bit. But he wasn't enough to save him from the flesh pirecing saw cleaver that dug into his left shoulder, cutting into part of his chest until a loud gunshot was heard. Ebon yells in pain and falls to his knees, ripping his saw cleaver from Sora's body.

He suddenly feels someone pull him back, making him fall over onto his back. He looks up to see Salem thurst her hand into Ebon's abdomen, then pull it out roughly; sending blood spraying. Ebon yells as he falls over, momentarily stunned.

Sora manages to sit up, holding his bleeding shoulder. He looks at it and sees a dark fire surrounding the wound. "What the..." He mutters.

"Get up!" Salem barks, pulling him to his feet by his good arm. "Donald, Goofy!" she yells shooting at the arcane user. Stunning him.

The two animals look at her, then see Sora trailing behind. "Sora!" They yell.

"We've got to go!" She yells. She looks at the two hunters getting to their feet. "As much as I hate to admit it...I'm outclassed."

"Where are we supposed to go?" Goofy asks, helping the pale young man.

Another gunshot rings out, the bullet barely missing Goofy.

"You bitch!" Ebon yells.

"Just run!" Salem yells, dodging another gunshot.

They quickly make their way out of the area, painfully aware of the two Hunters trailing them.

Whilst running Sora used Curagra on himself, a bit alarmed when the spell barely closed his wound, but instead made the dark fire dim a bit.

"Sora why aren't you healing yourself?" Donald asks while running, nearly falling over when quickly turning a corner.

"I can't! This...stuff, the dark fire, it won't let me!"

"We can figure out that problem later right now we need a safe place!" Salem says, feeling concerned. Wherever she looks there doesn't seem to be any good hiding places, no crevices. Everything is just **so open**.

"Where exactly can we go?" Goofy asks.

They stay quiet, occasionally flinching at the attempts to shoot them, thankful they missed.

"Wait, the mansion!" Sora suddenly says, the idea of being in the woods with large trees to use as cover seemed clever. Not to mention the gate was still most likely unlocked, they could hide in there for the time being until they recover.

"I've heard of it, where exactly is it?" Salem asks, turning around to throw yet another knife at the two. She missed, mentally cursing to herself.

"It's in the shopping district, where a large hole in the wall is!" Donald answers.

"But first we need to lose these two." Sora puts in, gripping his bleeding shoulder. Most of the fire was gone now, merely dwindling embers. He tries healing himself again, better success. The wound was no longer as open, but the skin wasn't completely healed. He could try again later, now he was in good enough shape to fight.

"Do you have any ideas how?" Salem asks, turning and shooting the blunderbuss. Missing of course but making them react on instinct and jump back a bit.

"How likely are we to outrun them?"

Salem shakes her head. "I doubt they'll lose interest unless..." She looks around.

"Unless what?" Goofy asks, using his shield to block the gunshot.

It suddenly clicked in Sora's head. "The beasts?" He asks.

Salem nods. "They're still hunters, and as much as they'd like to kill us they still have a responsibility to hunt the beasts." Salem huffs.

"Where are we going to-" Donald started to ask until he sees Salem pull out a bottle. "What is that supposed ot be?"

"A pungent blood cocktail, this'll draw the beasts." She snickers softly, an idea forming in her head.

"Are you sure you'll be able to hit them? So far you've missed every shot with your gun." Sora says, yelping as a bullet whizzes overhead.

"You think you have better aim?" Salem asks, making a sharp turn around a corner.

Sora looks down. It's been a while...

"Well?" She asks, throwing another knife to try and slow their pursurers.

Sora huffs and looks at her. "Let me see that." He takes the pungent cocktail and runs ahead.

Salem watches him, then turns around and lets off another shot of the blunderbuss, quickly following up with another throw of a knife.

Sora runs ahead a bit, weighing the foul smelling bottle in his hands.

Sora takes a deep breath, smiling to himself. "It's been a while since I've used Flowmotion."

It was true, in the time between the test and now he's mostly focused on strengthing himself with physical tactics; not so much magic...he should probably work on that.

He quickly runs towards a wall, jumping up and pushing himself off of it. He shudders a bit with a feel of the momentary weightlessness, readjusting himself to the familiar power of Flowmotion. He chuckles as he darts from wall to wall, the sound of bouncing off the walls is satisfying.

He sees Salem look up in a mixture of shock and surprise. He smiles then dashes towards their pursuers, launching himself off another wall he manages to gain more height. When he's right above the pair of hunters he throws the cocktail down at them.

They didn't have enough time to react to dodge out of the way, the pungent mixture splattering onto them. As soon as the bottle shattered they could all smell it.

Sora quickly dashed to the others, catching up to them.

"What now?" Sora asks, looking over his shoulder at the two who are currently trying to get the mixture somewhat off of them.

"Now we find a few beasts, there should still be some around. They're always around." She answers, looking around.

"What about that thing!" Goofy yells, pointing ahead.

Ahead of them, almost hidden behind a wall was a patrolling Executioner, they could hear the heavy, gruff breaths of it. There was a bit of growling somewhere near it.

"That'll do, we just need to get them close to it. Easy enough."

Donald quickly turns around. "Fira!" He yells, casting a large fire ball. He turns around once the spell was cast, not seeing the two take the flames head on. But they all hear them yell in rage and surprise.

They run past the executioner, momentarily grabbing it's attention. It steps out of it's hidden alleyway to chase them, then catches the whiff of the oh so desired blood.

Ebon and David freeze, seeing the executioner, they brace themselves; only to see two lycanthropes walk out of the alleyway and next to their supposed master.

"Shit!' Ebon yells as the beasts charge at them, quickly gaining ground.

Salem laughs as she watches them run away.

"How much time would you say we've got now?" Sora asks, looking a bit giddy at use of his Flowmotion. It really has been too long.

"Enough." Salem answers, looking at them.

"And where is this hole in the wall?" She asks, crossing her arms.

"The large wall is at the far end, the hole is literally smack dab in the middle." Sora answers, taking the lead. Donald and Goody trail after them with Salem right behind them.

"And what exactly are we hoping to find?" Goofy asks, looking over his shoulder at Salem.

"Well, a place to recuperate first. But what we should be looking for is the source of the hunt, something that may be calling or summoning these beasts. They can't have gotten here on their own, something has to be bringing them here." She answers. She looks ahead, seeing a large wall with a hole.

"Is that it?"

"Yup!"

They quickly run to the wall, dodging the beasts that try to take a swipe a them. They're chased for a short distance until the beasts leave them be, losing interest surprisingly easily.

Once they get to the wall they quickly enter the area, stepping into the forest. They quickly go to the side, hiding behind the wall; away from the hole.

They all take a minute to sit down, to think a few things over.

"How sure are we that there's something here?" Donald asks as he uses an ether, finding it important to keep magic energy up.

"There has to be something here, what were those orbs that came flying to this world?" Sora asks, downing a potion, making the wound fully close. He rubs his shoulder, it doesn't feel sore or tender. It's better.

"What if it came from another world? Maybe the source is there?" Goofy throws his thoughts in.

"I doubt it, there should be some kind of large creature here. There usually is in every major part of Yharnam." Salem thinks aloud, crossing her arms. "The Cleric Beast on the Great Bridge, Gascoigne in Oedon's Tomb, The Blood-starved Beast in Old Yharnam...then Vicar Amelia in the Cathedral Ward..." She says, listing off the greater creatures in the areas she's been.

Sora looks up. "Vicar Amelia?" He asks.

"Isn't a Vicar some kind of holy person?" Donald asks.

Salem nods. "Yes, I had come upon her when I had reached the Grand Catheral, past the large plaza, through the gates." She says. "I had found her praying, a strange verse. When she turned into a beast right before my eyes."

Goofy looks up. "Wait, now hold on a moment. When you were talking with Yen Sid, you said you only got as far as a large plaza." He says, seeing inconsistencies in her stories.

Donald and Sora look at her, realizing the differences too.

Salem goes quiet, mentally cursing herself.

"Salem were you telling the truth when you were talking with Yen Sid?" Donald asks, tapping his foot and raising an eyebrow.

She huffs and looks away. "I didn't feel the need to be completely honest about how far along my journey I am. Why does he need to know about my progress?" She asks.

"Because maybe he can help with some stuff you don't know? Because it's good to be honest with your friends?" Sora says, crossing his own arms.

"Like the old man can tell me how to revert a never-ending night to day." She scoffs.

"He knew that person you were talking about, Gehrman right?" Sora asks. "He seemed to know about him."

"But I doubt Gehrman has any real idea how to end the hunt. All he told me was to go hunting for beasts, said it'd be good for me." She rolls her eyes. "Then told me to seek a chalice, and that's all I've really heard him say."

"...Well he sure seems like a great deal of help." Donald huffs.

Salem nods absentmindedly, her mind starting to wander. Thinking of where, or rather WHAT, the soruce of all this may be. How did the beasts get here so fast? What kind of damage can they do in the time that they're here? Will the residents of all these worlds fall into beasthood? What if they find the blood to be the perfect miracle to them?

She shakes her head, they won't know...they can't know. These people have common sense to not consue the blood in any way...right?

"Hey!" Sora says in a hushed voice, snapping all of them out of their thoughts.

They look at him.

"What's that?" He asks, pointing to the sky.

They look up, seeing dark orbs against the night sky. There are many, seeming to come from the ground this time. Near them, floating up from the trees that surround them and over the wall, towards the town.

"What are..."

"Those look like the orbs we saw while heading to Halloween Town!"

"But why are they here if they came from out there?" Salem asks.

Sora smiles. "Maybe...we just found the source."

 **A/N: Eeeeeeeehhhh Sorry it took me so long to update and this chapter feels kinda bleh. I've been in a no-motivation funk I've been trying to get out of lately**

 **In other news I finished Bloodborne, like ALL of it. 100% trophies on both the main game and DLC. Holy shit the DLC was so much fun, my favorite boss fight was Lady Maria. The fight was amazing, the music and the phases she went through. In all honesty I'm surprised I was able to beat her on my first try. (She took all 24 of my Blood Vials, and 20 Quicksilver Bullets)**

 **What was you favorite fight in Bloodborne?**

 **eeeehhhhh in other news I might be starting another fanfic...because I'm trash for so many cool games and shows. Eh, Que-Sara-Sarachi**

 **Well I hope you guys enjoyed this chapter, as bad it was. Have a nice day/night everybody!**


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